N’Dea Davenport
N’Dea Davenport (V2)
No doubt about it, N’Dea Davenport’s got a Voice, a smokey, supple thing that teases and pleases, wrapping itself with ease around a bluesy ballad in “Save Your Love For Me,” insinuating itself through a sexy, mid-tempo jeep thumper via her first single, “Bring It On,” and then pumping up the volume for a pull-out-the stops big brass “Nawlins” jam in “Get Away.” But despite such a potent weapon, Davenport’s opening salvo in her much-heralded declaration of independence from her former compatriots, the Brand New Heavies, just misses its mark. To be sure, Davenport’s eponymous debut, which she mostly wrote and self-produced, provides for some pleasant afternoon listening, but it doesn’t break any musical ground. Nor are her lyrics saying anything new with lines like these: “My love is deeper than the ocean/higher than a mountain/and I’m gonna keep on reaching for the sun.”