Yasmin Williams : Acadia

Yasmin Williams reaps what she sows. For her third record Acadia, the innovative guitar virtuoso tills fruitful collaborations by planting songs like seeds from sprout to blossom. Three years removed from her introspective breakthrough Urban Driftwood, Acadia finds Williams fully at play with the tools around her. With talent featured on nearly every track, the guitarist takes more of a composer’s role on her most expansive work yet. Acadia is a bright, warm fusion of pastoral jazz, pop-bent folk, and sunshine trip-hop that throws open the windows and lets the light in.
While Urban Driftwood ruminates, this record bursts in every direction, and there’s a little something for everyone to hold onto. Between the lush instrumentation, dynamic arrangements, or simply the open-armed songwriting, Acadia only further establishes Williams as an expert writer and producer. The arrangements on Acadia are ambitious and inventive, highly successful in their delivery. There’s more of a longform focus on this record, songs that pick you up and place you somewhere else. The winding bluegrass romp of “Hummingbird” pulls you into the jig, while “Harvest” hoists you to harmonic peaks to meet violinist Darian Donovan Thomas. Later, “Dream Lake” radiates and swells as Williams turns guitar twinkles to washes to shreds. It’s a brilliant instrumental that takes its time as the guitarist and drummer Malick Koly lock into a rich, loose groove.
At the time of its release, critics likened Urban Driftwood to genres and acts Williams did not necessarily feel connected to at the time. Williams is inspired by all types of music, and her craft transcends genre. The guitarist’s relationship with instrument and composition is at the heart of her creativity, but Williams’ enthusiastic embrace of an even wider palette of influence is obvious and proves brilliant on Acadia. The aforementioned “Hummingbird” picks a few licks from those Delta blues comparisons, while “Malamu” melts Immanuel Wilkins’ wailing alto sax into Marcus Gilmore’s big-time percussion, culminating in a dramatic jazz fusion and thrilling finale to a remarkably ambitious record.
One of Acadia’s greatest strengths is its presence. This record lives in the space it is played. In headphones, Williams hits from the inside out. On the stereo, it’s like she’s in the room. Opener “Cliffwalk” meets the listener with wide open guitar strings and Don Flemons’ oscillating rhythm bones, a percussive element that brings such immediacy to the music. It’s an element that helps make Acadia all the more welcoming, as if Williams’ songwriting weren’t approachable enough.
Williams steps outside her comfort zone on Acadia, arranging vocals on early highlight “Virga” and breaking out the electric a few more times than usual. There’s such a tangible positivity on this record, an album united by Williams’ sweeping musical vision. On Acadia, you can hear Yasmin Williams taking it easy and having fun. Lucky for us, it’s just as easy and fun to listen along.
Label: Nonesuch
Year: 2024
Similar Albums: