Georgia Anne Muldrow is one of the most talented artists to emerge over the past fifteen years, working as a producer, vocalist, and emcee. She’s given us multiple projects that veer into house, hip hop, soul, and punk, and released albums on labels like Stones Throw, Ubiquity, and Mello Music Group, just to name a few. The last we heard from her was three years ago, when she gave us her excellent album, A Thoughtiverse Unmarred. Now she follows that up with her debut album for the Brainfeeder label, Overload.

Because she’s covered so much ground over the years, you never know exactly what to expect with each Muldrow album. That said, Overload might be the closest thing there is to a “typical” Georgia Anne Muldrow album. Of course, that term is relative, because no one else sounds like her. What you get in Overload is an album that blends prog, free jazz, soul, and hip hop to give you a style of music that’s equally influenced by Alice Coltrane, Dorothy Ashby, Erykah Badu, and Yasiin Bey. On Overload, the journey is one of patience and payoff, as Muldrow calmly guides you through some unexpected compositions and arrangements, where it often feels like she took what was initially a much busier record and stripped things down to the essential parts, so that you can really hear melody against countermelody and bassline, and you can process her lyrics at the same time, as she explores themes of spirituality and social justice. It’s an album with a lot of twists and turns to it, and you’ll definitely need to lean in and be an active listener with this album, but Muldrow is so thoughtful and passionate with her albums, it’s absolutely worth the effort. You’re not going to hear an album like Overload every day.

Georgia Anne Muldrow has been at this for a minute, and she’s delivered one of the richest discographies over the last fifteen years. Overload is yet another genre-defying, inventive, emotional album that takes listeners on a rewarding journey from start to finish.