Charity
Yellow
(self-released)

Wha-wha’d guitar and lilting la-la-la’s float in the lovely concoction that is “Pretty,” the opener on Detroit’s R&B visionary Charity Ward’s new Yellow EP. Organ and slippery guitar inform the slow groove of “Inspired,” a song that shows off Charity’s pipes even sweeter.“Beautiful” is probably the most realized, full love song here, there’s lots of synth layers with Charity’s vocals all up front while the piano-led ballad, “Undescribable,” ends, allowing Charity to really live the lyrics, undulate her pipes in and out of the vocals. It’s her best performance of the four here, I feel.

There’s a lot of what I call closed-mouth vocalizing from Miss Ward. I might have preferred a little clearer enunciation from this obviously expert singer, but that’s merely this lady’s style. And the tunes do tend toward a ’70s R&B sensibility (again, not a bad thing). Yellow is a heady brew to be sure, featuring a solid singer who knows her voice well and her element even better. There is simply no ignoring the talent of this lady or getting away from how these tunes will crawl up inside you.