We spend so much time and effort dissecting the global importance of neo-soul and its modern funk-jazz subsidiaries that sometimes it’s easy to forget about the godparents of it all. Whether being chosen to duet with Michael Jackson, opening for Prince in concert, or providing backing vocals to Elton Josh, Carole King, and Robbie Williams, Judith Hill is soul to the bone. 

 

When we last checked in with the soulstress, she was releasing The Pepper Club, a retro funk anthem that would get anyone with a taste for club funk out of their chair and dancing. Now, she’s releasing an entire project – Golden Child­– around a similar retro vision and impossible-to-miss soul… soul?

 

Only the artists subsisting as firmest to their classic craft could be so fitting of their styling’s name, and Judith Hill with Golden Child is so very simply soul. Slappy bass, organic instrumentation, crushing vocals, and a vast range of historically funk, jazz, and soul elements bring Golden Child together as something that could not have possibly been crafted in 2018. But here we are, and how lucky we are to be. 

 

Through its old-school roots, there is still something refreshingly modern to it all, without having lost the warm imperfection that makes it such a clever, retro project in the first place. That something is that it is the kind of project that all modern takes on funk, jazz, and soul altogether pull inspiration from. And to be given that in the modern day, amongst a smattering of releases from artists fitting modern takes on the bill across the globe, is a blessing for all.