‘Things Are Getting Better’ is Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation’s Soul-Stirring, Spirit-Lifting Latest LP, Out Now

Photo by Ethan DeLorenzo
July 26 2024

PRAISE FOR Jimetta Rose

“LA-based producer/singer/arranger Jimetta Rose recently put out a call for singers, looking to form a community choir that focused less on ability and more on singing as a form of healing. It's how The Voices of Creation began — and the project is indeed a force for healing.”

NPR Music

“Any of the words of affirmation, wisdom, and self-love that might seem trite on paper are gully brought to life by Rose and company, who deliver them all with conviction and power in the face of global unrest. Besides, the harmonies are never not heavenly.”

AllMusic

“Another uplifting set of celebratory gospel, joyful R&B, and spiritual jazz that finds them continuing to spread a humanistic message of faith and togetherness in troubled times.”

KEXP

“When this choir, the members of which display nothing amateur in their performance, sings in unison, it’s a rolling type of gospel that just bulldozes. Religious or not, it stirs us all.”

Treble Zine

TRACKLIST
Portals
To Each A Zone
Surrender the Day
Miracle (Interlude)
Everyday Blessings
Things Are Getting Better
Already Real To Me
VoC Chant (Interlude)
Everywhere I Look (Love is Everywhere)

Things Are Getting Better is out now, buy/stream it here.

Today, Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation share Things Are Getting Better via Day Dreamer (the fresh imprint from Night Dreamer). A spirit-lifting, soul-stirring devotional that effortlessly unites house, funk, soul, RnB and hip-hop influences, Things Are Getting Better hears the LA-based vocal group reach new heights to spread a message of faith and togetherness in troubled times. Buy/stream Things Are Getting Better here.

Things Are Getting Better is that invocation to believe. Where their Mario Caldato-produced debut How Good It Is captured the raw power of the choir and channelled their irrepressible live energy on record, Things Are Getting Better introduces a more crafted studio sound to the arrangements. An evolution rather than a reinvention, this is the gospel of Jimetta, delivering “new mantras and new prayers for this new day that we find ourselves in that is so stark between the dark and the light.”

If there is a gospel that LA-based singer, composer, arranger and choir leader Jimetta Rose lives by it is that “our voices are our tools to heal ourselves and others.” Composed of non-professional singers who she assembled following an online call-out, The Voices of Creation embodies Jimetta’s mission to demystify the ministry, spreading a message of faith in the power of music to effect positive change. As she says, “If we sing songs together that uplift and highlight our interdependence on one another, I think we are headed towards a different paradigm and a different way of being.”

A prolific vocalist and collaborator with the likes of Anderson. Paak, Carlos Niño and Angel Bat Dawid, this time Jimetta leads from the front, bringing in instrumentalists Isaiah Collier, Ryan Porter and V.C.R. to create a fuller, more diverse palette. Recorded at Sunset Sound studios in Los Angeles with musical director and keyboardist Jack Maeby, producer, percussionist and vocalist Allakoi Peete, and mixed by Ben Baptie (whose credits include Sault, Little Simz and Cleo Sol), the resulting album encapsulates Jimetta’s vision for a “Black spiritual classical music.”

Knitting together influences from across eras, “To Each is Zone” nods to Faith, Hope And Charity’s 1975 single “To Each His Own,” flipping the meaning of the song into a new context, and reinforcing the humility needed in times of division. Showcasing Jimetta’s vocal harmonies, “Miracles” embodies the idea that the voice can inspire faith where none seems forthcoming. Like “Real To Me,” it feels like a lost classic from the great American songbook, imbuing the grace of the vocal performance with a timeless quality.

And if gospel house brought the choir to the club, then “Everyday Blessings” brings the kick drum to the church – a belter for transcendence, not preached from up high, but delivered from the congregation. The album closes with the urgent, shuffling breakbeat of “Everywhere I Look,” bringing together elements of Black music history from turntablism to Pharoah Sanders’ “Love is Everywhere” in the complete expression of Jimetta’s ministry. Like a “Stand on the Word” for the 21st century, “Everywhere I Look” will resonate far and wide.

“We’re here now and who knows where we’re going,” Jimetta says. Music, faith, community. The Voices of Creation are living their purpose and things are only going to get better.

Read album liner notes by Jimetta Rose here.
Read Jimetta Rose & The Voices of Creation Bio here.

CREDITS
Choir Members
Jimetta Rose: Lead Vocals, Director, Writer, Arranger
Jack Maeby: Organ & Synth Bass, Music Director
Allakoi Peete: Percussion, Vocals
Yohance Wright: Drum Machine, Bass Vocals
Gaby Hernández: Soprano Vocals
Roz Kumari: Soprano Vocals (lead vocals Things Are Getting Better)
Steven Kellye Hawkins: Tenor Vocals
Tamina Lawson: Soprano Vocals
Aankha Neal: Alto Vocals
Tamara Blue Endeley: Alto Vocals (additional vocals To Each A Zone & Portals)
Khalila Gardner Adelabu: Alto Vocals (lead vocals Everyday Blessings & Things Are Getting Better)
Zavier Wise: Baritone Vocals
Kam Talbert: Tenor Vocals (lead vocals Surrender the Day)
Novena Carmel: Alto Vocals

Personnel
Isaiah Collier: Saxophone
V.C.R.: Violin & Vocals
Ryan Porter: Trombone
Danny Janklow: Alto Saxophone
Drum Production: Allakoi “Mic Holden” Peete, Timothy “Low Blow” Dancy, Carlos “MegaLosDon” Lasuncet, Yohancé “Elete” Wright, Daniel “wavy josef” Lasuncet

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