Music Review: Meshell Ndegeocello's 'The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams'

Meshell Ndegeocello, "The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams" (Emarcy)

Meshell Ndegeocello's "The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams" sounds like the soundtrack to a dream, a poem with a punk aesthetic, coated with thick as honey sensuality and dripping with religious, social and political imagery.

She harnesses her magic like a master, gently coaxing the listener to trip out as she pulls you deeper inside her mind. The power is in both what she says, and how she makes you feel as she says it.

"Will you be there/When the pain I feel makes me hate you/And I show you no mercy" she whispers on "Relief: A Stripper Classic," over a raunchy bass line and crunching electric guitars. How can you not oblige?

"Get a bang out of life," she sings to a potential suicide bomber on "The Sloganeer: Paradise," as she expresses their psyche, declaring their actions: "My frustrated destructive reaction to my life." The pounding bassline and frenetic drums echo adrenaline's punch, daring you to empathize with a killer.

Saxophonist Oliver Lake and vocalist Thandiswa Mazwai are among the artists that join the collective on this album, contributing in subtle yet irreplaceable ways. Another treat is the irony of "Shirk," where the tonal mood lightens like a sonic oasis, while the lyrics wallow in dark emotions. Oumou Sangare guests on this track, singing in the African tongue Bambara and seemingly expressing all that is incomprehensible in the aftermath of a breakup. It, like the rest of the album, is honest, raw and vulnerable.

"I'm just a soul on the planet/Trying to do good, be good and feel good," Ndegeocello drawls on "Michelle Johnson." Mission accomplished.

CHECK THIS OUT: Why does Ndegeocello launch into a heavy-metal Middle Eastern groove in the middle of the baby-makin' track "Lovely Lovely?" And why does it work so well? Discuss.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)