If I were to talk to you of a modern artist who writes songs in three languages, French, English and Cameroonian, who blends multiple genres from R&B to soul to dance to more urban sounds and who has had a musical education at the feet of US R&B icons, Ireland is perhaps the last place you would expect them to call home. Though maybe not, after all, modern technology and interconnectedness means that you can absorb, create and deliver music from and to anywhere in the world. Such an artist would truly embrace what it means to be a modern, global creative. Joe Lington is just such a person.
WPTA, standing for Where The Party At, the lead track from this sonic trilogy of the same name, speaks volumes about Lington’s position at the forefront of a geography-free and even a largly genre-less music scene. It blends soul sentiments with dance infectiousness, it is accessible to an almost pop level of understanding, and it has a chorus that begs you to join in. But it is also smooth and sophisticated, a new chapter in the young life of what is best described as neo-soul.
Also featured on the EP are two songs showing this rising star’s scope. Pinkeen is full of hip-hop grooves and upbeat energies, the perfect late-night floor-filling anthem for the most discerning club soundtracks, while Hypocrisy shows the other end of his vocal and musical prowess, a superb, scintillating and subtle ballad but one with enough drive and edge that it catches your attention.
WTPA, the EP, is an excellent showcase for Joe Lington; it crosses an array of styles and sounds and ignores genres, pulling at whatever rich sonic seams take his fancy and blending them into the perfect musical design for today’s more mainstream and mass market tastes. In this audience, it is bound to thrive.
