For some artists, their go-to tools may be colorful runs or vocals soaring to the highest musical register. But when it comes to singer and songwriter Selina Albright, the vocal package is combined with an ability to create moving stories delivered with finesse.
In the past few years, the Los Angeles native has reached the First Listen pages – most recently in 2021 with “Jenny (Perfect Little Rows),” a sensitive theme about surviving a co-dependency stigma. While she holds her own balancing soul, jazz, dance or whatever the spirit moves her, Albright calls upon solid vocal foundations from Ella (Fitzgerald) to Minnie (Ripperton) to Maxwell. By the way, music also happens to run in the blood through her father, the multi-Grammy nominated saxophonist Gerald Albright.
Back to Selina, she follows up with another engaging tale of striving above difficult circumstances on her latest single and First Listen, “Dishonest Smile” (Golden Rays Music). The impeccable storytelling illustrates an exhausted pregnant woman balancing all her responsibilities to find calm amongst frustration: “I don’t have a mask for this place/This isn’t a time to when I can just fix my face.” Albright’s nimble, multi range skills blend effortlessly alongside the crisp contemporary jazz/R&B arrangements of keyboards and percussion. Despite the title of “Dishonest Smile,” Albright aims for the heart in providing truthful yet profound scenarios behind the pain, which provides a welcome listen anytime.
By Peggy Oliver
Selina Albright – “Dishonest Smile”
