Lisa Shaw Cherry
Lisa Shaw’s smooth vocals are well known to house heads, but if commercial American radio […]
Lisa Shaw’s smooth vocals are well known to house heads, but if commercial American radio weren’t so lame, she’d be known just as well to R&B fans on the strength of her first full-length. Showcasing her popular smooth vocals (previous releases include “Always” and Lovetronic’s “You Are Love”), Cherry leans into both laid-back house and lush, seductive R&B. “Matter of Time” juxtaposes dreamy vocals over stuttery percussion, and the bittersweet “When I” even approaches radio-friendliness. Shaw’s house background comes out in tracks such as “Born to Fly,” a synth-laced dancefloor pleaser that sounds made for 3 a.m.. As it happens, Shaw originally worked on a different set of material years ago, but label pressures and timelines prompted her to start over, this time with producers Jay Denes and Eric Stamile. This might not be the album she (or her fans) expected, but it’s been worth the wait nonetheless.