“I want people to have an overview of who I am as an artist and as a woman.”
Music fans should be very happy that the legendary Deniece Williams is a woman of her word.
Last summer, Williams promised an EP of new music, and the songbird has made good on that promise with the new, exceptional Gemini.
I was honored to interview Williams a couple of months ago, upon the release of a multi CD box set that spans her tenure with Columbia Records. Towards the end of that conversation, as she told me about her upcoming 2022 touring show, she casually made mention of what would become the new project, released earlier this month.
“I have some of the songs that I did for the show that I’m going to put up on my website,” Williams said, “like a little EP.”
I’m not in the habit of correcting legends, but the only thing “little” about Williams’ new Gemini EP is the set list. While it is comprised of only five songs, the singer has delivered five of the most stirring vocal performances of her 45 year recording career.
And guess what? The 70 year old chanteuse still commands that piercing, multi-octave soprano that few could touch. Let’s hear it for the girl!
And let’s hear from the girl about the new EP.
“I want people to have an overview of who I am as an artist and as a woman,” Williams recently told ABC Audio. “The experiences just take me wherever — experiences that I’m going through, experiences that friends are going through, experiences on how I was raised on the different artists that I love. So that’s the feel of this project so that you get a total overview of who I am.”
It sounds it sounds like a cliché, the type that artists themselves often employ when asked of their favorite song on a new album, but I cannot settle on a favorite or two from Gemini. If I singled out a standout, I’d have to tell you about all five tracks.
But what the hell? It’s only five tracks, right? Let me walk you through Gemini.
Read MPC’s full feature here.
Michael P Coleman is a Sacramento based freelance writer who has his eye on the Pulitzer Prize. Connect with him at michaelpcoleman.com or follow his blog, his IG and his Twitter.
