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[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

The soft grain of Brandy's voice is one of those sounds in pop that I never realise just quite how much I love - it's something I often turn to when fragile or hungover, and her 2004 album Afrodisiac is an all-time favourite 4eva. She always manages to seem quietly unassuming even when singing declarative ryde-or-die epics (like her last single, 'Right Here (Departed)', and its somewhat messianic/beatific video) - the combination of cosmic scope and intimate feel is a very effective one, even though it means she'll never have a single of the magnitude of, say, 'Umbrella' or 'No One'. The same applies to her new single, 'Long Distance', which is a powerballad of rather immense proportions and an excellent video:

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[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

Other urgent & key tracks from the new Brandy album - 'Piano Man' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAXPU_pL0nU), a lovely tribute to Rodney Jerkins - like Ne-Yo's 'Single', meta done extremely movingly: "Play me a song about heartache, I swear I can sing every word/Play me a song about love lost, cuz that's another one everyone's heard." Also, 'Something's Missing' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeD0X0SUvoo), a rather curious near-acappella on which Brandy sings the beat ("boom...clap...boom...clap..."), hums the bass and trails off on a variety of backing vocal tangents.