Songwrights Apothecary Lab

Jazz · 2021 · 12 tracks · 1h 0m

Songwrights Apothecary Lab

Esperanza Spalding

Twelve therapeutic musical prescriptions blending avant-garde vocal jazz, warm upright bass, and minimalist piano to soothe the mind and unburden the body.

Spiritual healing lab

Warm upright bass and hushed, minimalist piano drift through these twelve therapeutic pieces like a quiet home remedy. You can feel the tension leave your shoulders as the avant-garde vocals gently soothe your mind.

Songwrights Apothecary Lab · vs · Esperanza Spalding

Spirituality+3.7σ

The writing leans far further into spirituality than the rest of the catalogue.

Tracklist · 12 Tracks · 1h 0m

01

Formwela 1

3:35

02

Formwela 2

6:10

03

Formwela 3

7:05

04

Formwela 4

4:19

05

Formwela 5

3:32

06

Formwela 6

3:10

07

Formwela 7

3:26

08

Formwela 8

11:39

09

Formwela 9

4:31

10

Formwela 10

3:28

11

Formwela 11

3:08

12

Formwela 13

6:44

Moments Worth Waiting For

12Formwela 13The album skips 'Formwela 12' entirely, jumping directly from the eleventh track to the final piece in a deliberate sequencing choice.

01Formwela 1The instrumentation on 'Formwela 1' is stripped to its barest essentials, allowing the slow decay of each piano chord to dictate the tempo.

Sits BesideSee all

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Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace

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Shares spiritual jazz, avant-garde jazz, early_morning, ethereal (subgenre)

Touch

Sarah McLachlan

Shares ethereal, art pop, haunting, candlelit (signature)

Salutes Bessie Smith

Salutes Bessie Smith

Amina Claudine Myers

Shares spiritual jazz, avant-garde jazz, vocal jazz, organ (subgenre)

These Walls (The First Recording)

These Walls (The First Recording)

Shares ethereal, early_morning, cabin_in_woods, candlelit (signature)

Circlesongs

Shares spiritual jazz, avant-garde jazz, early_morning, vocal jazz (subgenre)

Susanna and the Magical Orchestra

Shares ethereal, vocal jazz, cabin_in_woods, art pop (signature)

Ulysees

Shares ethereal, cabin_in_woods, haunting, whispered (signature)

Overpass

Shares spiritual jazz, avant-garde jazz, upright bass, cabin_in_woods (subgenre)

12 Little Spells

12 Little Spells

Esperanza Spalding

Shares avant-garde jazz, vocal jazz, upright bass, ethereal (subgenre)

Playdate

Shares vocal jazz, organ, tender, whispered (subgenre)

Reviews

Critic Consensus

Critics widely appreciated the album's serene, genre-fluid textures and its comforting mood, praising the therapeutic focus of its gentle vocal and instrumental arrangements. However, some reviewers felt that the record's highly conceptual framework could occasionally feel overly didactic or repetitive, making the overall listening experience somewhat demanding.

Tom HullB

Record Collector3/ 5 stars

Pitchfork7.5/ 10

Le Devoir3.5/ 5 stars

DownBeat4/ 5 stars

AllMusic4/ 5 stars

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