Brian Slattery Photo
Salwa at Cafe Nine in 2019.
“Open,” the first song from Salwa’s EP Breath, blooms into existence with a chiming guitar and swirling synthesizers in the background. Then Salwa enters: “Open,” she sings, “open me up, I’m ready.” In their tone there’s both a sense of both acceptance and strength, a willingness to be vulnerable, but on their terms. As the song continues, Salwa’s voice only gains power, even as the lyrics move in the other direction. “I’m open,” she sings, “but I’m wounded, and I need you, and I’m scared.” At the moment Salwa’s most exposed, they’re also at their fiercest.
The past two weeks saw the release of two EPs — Breath and The Godwynn Experience, Vol. II — by two of New Haven’s most talented artists, Salwa Abdussabur and Ro Godwynn. Abdussabur was performing spoken word publicly in their teens before moving into writing original songs. Since appearing on the scene a couple years ago, Godwynn quickly made a name for herself as a solo artist and as a member of the experimental neo-soul group Phat A$tronaut.
Breath and The Godwynn Experience, Vol. II mark major steps forward for both artists, who celebrated their releases with a joint listening party late last week. The senses of both artists coming into their own, honing their voices as musicians, producers, songwriters, is palpable. Both reach into their experiences as vibrant young queer Black artists to create music that engages with the time and offers ways to head into the future with intelligence and grace.
“N,” the second song on Breath, turns the racial epithet into a chant to talk about how the Black community faces the dual pandemic of Covid-19 and racism. “When will we catch a breath?” they sing, sweeping the killing of George Floyd and the disease into a single phrase. “River” is built on a simple, serene loop that serves as a platform for Salwa to tell their own story and connect it to the past struggles of Black people.
Then the album’s closer, “What You Know” — built on a strutting guitar that spikes every backbeat — turns outward, as they address, in part, those who hold Black people like them back. “What you know about freedom when you can’t free yourself?” they sing. It’s an admonition, but an invitation, too, to learn how to move forward together.
Karen Ponzio Photo
Godwynn at Cafe Nine in 2019.
If Salwa sharpens the edge of their music to deliver their message — they are a self-described “artivist” — Godwynn entices with a more lush and inward-turning sound. During their conversation with Abdussabur and on a recent episode of WNHH’s “Thabisa and Friends,” they remarked on a realization that, in their songwriting, the more specific they could get in finding the words and music to convey their emotions, the more general and universal the connection to others could become.
That idea propels The Godwynn Experience into equally consoling and challenging territory. Like Salwa, Godwynn has the ability to convey conflicting, almost contradictory emotions in the way that they sing. On “Perhaps,” a jazz-inflected guitar line gives Godwynn what they need for a curlicuing melody that is, in time, joined by sparse percussion and lush background vocals. The lyrics may be about indecision, but the music couldn’t be surer.
The middle of the EP is occupied by “Sorry (Pt. 1)” and “Sorry (Pt. 2),” built on flowing organ, harp, and vocals to create a musical dreamscape for Godwynn’s voice to explore. “I’m just having a hard time trying to keep these feelings away,” they sing, as much to themselves as to others. It’s a promise to do better that the music itself fulfills.
The path of The Godwynn Experience leads to the solace of “Intervene.” “Every night I pray I find what went wrong. I put it on myself, but I’ve put it on myself for too long,” they sing. “I know this is not where I belong.” The music, now driven by a sparkling piano, a chorus of urgent voices, brims with hopeful expectation that develops and unfurls until, at the end, it’s a quiet kaleidoscope of harmony that slowly resolves into peace. It’s a move toward healing and reconciliation, two things that we could all use a lot more of these days. And together, Salwa and Godwynn are showing how it might be possible.
