Dj Vadim & Sena - Grow Slow (2015)

Grow Slow seems a particularly appropriate title for DJ Vadim & Sena's long-gestating collaborative long-player. The Ghanaian-Hungarian chanteuse first met Vadim at a festival in Budapest back in 2005 and later lent vocals to his 2007 album, Talk To Me, while fronting Hungarian reggae popsters Irie Mafia. Yet Grow Slow sounds anything but laboured or overly calculated, and for the majority of its snappy ten tracks (only one of which lasts longer than fives minutes) the duo create a synergy often greater than the sum of its parts.

Opener "There's A Moment" is an urgent ode to self-determination that sets the album's vibe with a hip-swaying riddim as Sena intones, " I'm gonna make it through these hard times through the strength of my own two feet" with an aplomb only hinted at in her previous work. "Day By Day" and "Living In The New" are fine examples of Vadim's inventive production approach, and true to his aesthetic, Grow Slow fuses rockers, grime, hip-hop, futuristic dancehall and soul filtered through cabinet-rocking bass that's best exemplified at the mid-point on the bouncy "Stems N Seeds."

The slow burn of "Run Along" is drenched with ominous electronic effects but its scolding of materialistic youth comes off a bit monotonous and didactic. Luckily, the album ends on a strong note with the percolating Afro-Latin groove of "Give More Pt 2." (BBE)

Tracklist:

01. There Is A Moment (4:26)
02. Day By Day (3:02)
03. Work Hard (3:28)
04. Living In The New (3:43)
05. Stems N Seeds (3:58)
06. Grow Slow (4:10)
07. Boneshaker (3:44)
08. Run Along (4:27)
09. Morning Light (4:00)
10. Give More Pt. 2 (5:44)