Kindred The Family Soul Surrender To Love CD

Contains seven untitled hidden tracks following "Freedom".
Kindred The Family Soul: Fatin Dantzler, Aja Graydon (vocals, various instruments).
Additional personnel includes: Ursula Rucker (spoken vocals); James Poyser (various instruments); Doc Gibbs (percussion); King Britt (programming).
Producers include: Anthony Bell, Kindred The Family Soul, Elise Perry, David Ivory, Ivan Dupee.
Philadelphia's Kindred the Family Soul -- aka Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon -- are a married duo that fronts a ten-piece band and plays some of the most inspiring melds of soul, R&B, hip-hop, funk, pop, smooth jazz, and soft rock. Surrender to Love is the act's debut full length -- an EP appeared during the previous summer to critical and club acclaim. The quality in all of these self-penned titles is astonishing given what passes for soul these days. One can hear the fine, sweet, emotionally and musically true inspiration of Womack & Womack, Ashford & Simpson, Roberta Flack, and Donny Hathaway here, but also the nu-soul grooves of Fertile Ground, Julie Dexter, and YahZarah as well. The shifting jazzy guitars in "Rhythm of Life," as they wind their way around the syncopated vocals, both as exchanged lines between the pair and as a chorus with a hi-hat and rim-shotting snare, make for a gorgeous midtempo groover that crosses the slick jazzy sophistication of Steely Dan with the soul grit of Lauryn Hill and Freda Payne. The album's first single, with its sweet yet spare washes of strings, subtly shaded guitars, and Dantzler's sweet and in-the-pocket tenor phrasing, is a plea for respite from the grimness of urban life. When Graydon hits the chorus and slides in a filler tag, the cut opens up, and when her verse begins, the listener understands that this is a love song above all, and as lovers plead for transcendence with one another, the listener is moved deeply into their wish for deliverance. There are 18 tracks here, and not a one of them is filler. Each moment of Surrender to Love is saturated in both accessibility and integrity. Soul music is far from dead if one listens to Kindred and their peers; they make the argument that no matter how gritty, how grim the circumstance, the struggle is not without merit. Give a listen to "We," with its manifesto of home in a slow-tempo poetic groove. Other standouts -- even though it's tough to choose -- are "What Happens Now," "Contentment" with its Tuck & Patti airiness, the anthemic "Spread the Word" with its Latin percussion-drenched funk that is equal parts Sly Stone, Ray Barretto, and War, the swinging, jazzed out "If I," which could have been sung by Monday Michiru, and the overdriven hip-hopping funk of "Party's Over." (There's a hidden bonus track after cut 18 so don't take it off prematurely.) This is as impressive a debut as one is likely to encounter in 2003. A mindblower. ~ Thom Jurek
From Frank Sinatra to Britney Spears, popular music's most visible figures have often represented Western culture's obsession with youth, physical beauty and the pursuit of short-term romance over committed monogamous relationships. Apparently hoping to reverse the trend, with SURRENDER TO LOVE Kindred The Family Soul delivers what may be the first modern mainstream album to so fully, genuinely. and unpretentiously embrace the concept of hearth, home and family. Using a spare, easy-flowing old school soul duet template of the type employed to great effect by Gaye/Terrel, Flack/Hathaway and Labelle/Womack, Aja Graydon and Fatin Dantzler sound less like a revival act than a classic thrift-shop find.
Lest one think that SURRENDER TO LOVE is a warm-and-fuzzy Christian-pop style affirmation of 7th HEAVEN-esque plastic perfection, Kindred The Family Soul isn't afraid to drag out the dirty laundry. Few albums celebrate and examine the completely unglamorous minutiae of daily life in such an affecting and creative manner. An amazingly substantive and accomplished debut, the disc serves as a challenge toRolling Stone (6/26/03, p.80) - 3 stars out of 5 - "...Imagine a modern-day Ashford and Simpson with real boho depth..."
Mojo (Publisher) (9/03, p.112) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...An album that is an alluring synthesis of soul, funk, jazz, gospel and even Afrobeat influences..."