Dawn Richard – Creole Culture

Every Dawn Richard project exists at the intersection of identity and agency. Creole Culture, the follow-up to 2021’s Second Line and the final installment in a trilogy devoted to her hometown of New Orleans, finds the leftfield pop artist portraying the city as a place rooted in tradition but constantly dancing toward reinvention. In typical Richard fashion, the “dancing” aspect is key to her vision. After telling the stories of each of her parents on the previous two records, she now turns inward, framing her own story through a rich veil of electronic soul.

Richard stakes her claim as a creative force on “Only Fans,” playfully nodding to the undue scrutiny the popular hosting platform faces over a high-energy Miami bass backdrop: “I love it when I’m in my bag/I can’t help it if I can’t lose.” Collaborating with jazz collective Kalalyst, whose presence looms large throughout the album, she eases into a slower groove on “Pilates,” reflecting on her growth and the peace that companionship brings. The overuse of name-drops, from Oasis to Miguel and everything in between, feels like a minor misstep, though she threads them together endearingly. While these more subdued moments deliver, it’s on tracks like “chuuuuurch” where Richard is most fully in her element, channeling the hardships of surviving the music industry into an exhilarating New Orleans bounce workout.

Compared to the equally free-roaming Second Line, Creole Culture also finds Richard applying a patchwork of ideas. While that makes for a dynamic listen from start to finish, it doesn’t gel quite as well as her previous conceptual projects—and that includes her more understated releases with neoclassical composer Spencer Zahn. That might seem surprising for an artist who has built her solo career around a concept-or-bust mentality, but the highlights here are in shorter supply. When they do hit, though, they’re irresistible: take “groove city,” a drum ’n’ bass reworking of a 1979 track by her late father’s band, Chocolate Milk, that best showcases her intuitive feel for the form.

Creole Culture is out now via Merge Records.