R&B singer and songwriter Dawn Richard released a third song in her new album Second Line last week, according to Stereogum. The album will be her first with Merge Records and is expected to have 15 tracks, including an intro, three ludes, an outermission and an outro. The official release date is set for April 30.
The new single, entitled “Mornin | Streetlights,” is her third release from the album and is made up of two separate parts. Released so far are the singles “Bussifame” and “Jacuzzi,” both accompanied by empowering and feminine music videos.
“Mornin” starts out with a spoken conversation with her mother, who explains that the only love she has ever known is her father. She uses traditional live instruments and a smooth melodic line to represent the wholesome qualities she sees in the love her parents have had for each other for so long. About the song, Richard said:
“Mornin | Streetlights” shows the parallel of my love life with music. Structure and rules don’t exist in this type of love, so it was important for me to not only approach this song with a nontraditional structure and length, but also push the design of a what love song should sound like. ‘Mornin’ embodies tradition and soul, and ‘Streetlights’ represents the future. I felt like the songs couldn’t be separate and needed to be together, so I created it as one song; the past and future can exist together within one record.”
Listen to the single:
The sound of the piece reflects this intended meaning by possessing a consistently flowing pattern, the instrumental not being broken up by harsh percussion beats. The sound is fluid with the rich, smooth sound of her voice and the accompanying low harmonies she layers with pleasant riffs and vibrato consistent with R&B style within the repetitive melody.
Richard’s last album, new breed, was released in 2019 without a group and without a label. She released the record with the intent to channel her classic R&B sound into an expression of her Louisiana Creole heritage and how being Native American has played into her story as an artist. As empowering as it is to be an independent musician, Richard is “stoked” to be working with Merge and to present their finished product to her fans.
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