London-based vocalist Deborah Jordan has been critically acclaimed over the years, and along with her solo material, she’s worked with artists like Kaidi Tatham and the jazz group Panacea. Her most recent release was a collaborative project with K15 called Human, which came out this past May. Now, Futuristica Music has gone back to the beginning with Jordan, reissuing her 2009 debut solo album, The Light.

The period between 2005-2010 remains one of the weirdest in pop music history, not just in the way that not only were a lot of sounds shifting, but also in the ways that it became harder to discover independent music as all of the distribution models were shifting. This is all to say that a lot of albums from this time period got lost in the mix and could benefit from a reissue to draw attention to some true gems. The Light is such an album. While it may have been well-received in the UK, it certainly did not get enough attention across the ocean. Now that it’s been reissued and pressed to vinyl for the first time, hopefully listeners will take the time to go back and realize what a strong debut album this is. It certainly helps that while this is Jordan’s debut solo album, she had been putting in the work for years at this point as a backup vocalist, featured vocalist, and sung in a few different groups, so she had a lot of experience to draw from when she finally went in to record this album. It also doesn’t hurt that she had a lot of great producers working on this album, such as Rise/Mecca:83, Electric Conversation, Jneiro Jarel, Marc Rapson, Simbad, Kamara and Atjazz, who help craft this sound that ranges from neo-soul to broken beat to trip hop to hip hop to future jazz. However you slice it, it’s an intimate album with a sound that really draws you in with it’s warm production and beats that will get your feet shuffling. What brings all of this together is the voice of Deborah Jordan, who sings with such conviction and confidence. She never overpowers the tracks with her voice because she doesn’t need to. She has a great sense of melody, a great tone, and a great feel to match her vocal lines within the production. She’s also doing a great subtle job as a lyricist, putting a real personal touch to these otherwise straightforward songs about love lost and found. It’s an incredibly solid album from start to finish.

Going back and listening to The Light, you can see what a solid foundation Deborah Jordan laid down for herself back in 2009. She is an incredibly soulful singer with a lot of skill and confidence, and she has carved out her own space within the general “neo-soul” umbrella. The great thing is that you can appreciate all of this on this reissue and see how she led the way for a lot of talent that came up right behind her.