Da Chick - Good Company

BANDCAMP
SPOTIFY

Just looking at the solar colors on the cover of ‘Good Company’, Da Chick’s new album, you realize that the artist who released her first EP exactly 10 years ago hasn't stopped growing, evolving, and making discoveries. Perhaps, when she offered Curly Mess to the world in 2012, Da Chick was proudly walking a somewhat lonely path, even if it pointed to the place where you are never without someone – the dance floor! But today, she prefers to assert herself in good company and brings to her brand-new record a series of allied artists that she believes are in tune with her own vibe.

Da Chick explains that Good Company is a different milestone in a busy career: “It's a full record. Full of light, full of words, full of sounds, full of emotions and full of me. The influences are many, from Guru to ATCQ, from Roy Ayers to Donald Byrd, from Cool Hipnoise to Blackout... but the sound is undoubtedly Da Chick”, she says, opening with a show of frankness and honesty that, amongst everything else, is heard clearly in the singles released from the record so far. “This record”, Da Chick continues, “made dreams come true, like being able to have the master Melo D on a song produced by me. And all the other participants, for whom I have a lot of affection and respect, made this record a real dream. It's my most complete album, stuffed and covered with everything I'm entitled to. It's good to have arrived here”. Undoubtedly, that she has come this far in such good company is a clear sign of her empathic vibe: in addition to Melo D, who was the voice in several of Cool Hipnoise's classics, it is also worth mentioning Selma Uamusse and the Gospel Collective represented by Mirza Lauchand, Bárbara Whanon, Beware Jack and the “beasts” Gui Salgueiro, Fred Ferreira, João Gomes (another name for Cool Hipnoise), Eduardo Cardinho, Gabriel Salles Silva, Sandro Félix, DJ Glue, Natasha Diggs, Iúri Oliveira or Moullinex and Xinobi who, in different ways and on different instruments, help make this Good Company a treasure trove of groove, class and good vibes. The beautiful cover is created from Kruella D'Enfer's illustration, work that perfectly translated the light that Da Chick believes now illuminates her.

It was with the ironically titled Curly Mess that Da Chick revealed herself in 2012, her first release on Discotexas, the same label she has always called home. A first groove manifesto in which Da Chick rhymed as if she had never set foot outside the 5 Boroughs, from New York and as if the calendar had never advanced beyond 1986. This creative fantasy guaranteed her a space of her own that was deepened with the albums Chick to Chick (2015) and conversations with the beat (2020) and also with EPs such as Call Me Foxy (2017) and participation on important compilations such as Earth Night and Nothin' But a She Thang and assertive responses to invitations from people such as Memória de Peixe, HMB, Throes + The Shine, Mike el Nite, Mirror People or Moullinex.

It's not just a matter of production volume, but also of all the creative nuances that elevate artists: Da Chick started by lining up rhymes on paper in 2009, trimming parts more than anything else as she was taking her first steps, but she grew with the passage of time, she began to sing, refining the writing, producing, playing the guitar, imagining his own arrangements, mastering the art of being on stage more and more precisely. Da Chick arrived at the present after another decade of adventures, but she is now in a different place: “This party girl also manages to have a party during the day, more calmly and maturely”, she jokes, not without hitting the target squarely.

In one of the special moments of the new album, which in fact they all are, Da Chick expresses a yearning that is almost her life commandment: “I'm still learning the progressions to my heart / Some say it takes about a lifetime / So I'm taking a deep breath in / And stop rushing”. That we can all keep good company on this life adventure is fantastic. And for that, just press play on this Good Company or even put the needle on the first track of the vinyl. Then just go forth. Dancing, smiling and loving, if possible. Da Chick follows closely by our side.