Adrian Sherwood - Dub No Frontiers (Album)

Adrian Sherwood presents Dub No Frontiers, released 14th October via Real World Records, is a platform for some of the great international female artists currently operating to unite and celebrate in dub, and is inspired by and features female vocalists the On-U Sound producer, and brainchild behind the project, knew from the UK or had met while travelling around the world. “Many of the singers said they felt the dub/reggae arena was a male preserve and a little intimidating even, so we decided to invite artists to perform a song of their choice, all in non-English on our rhythm tracks.”

Adrian Sherwood of course knows his musical herstory and has spent a lifetime working as an ally with female artists from the very beginnings of his On-U Sound label with the New Age Steppers, a supergroup he co-founded with the Slits singer Ari Up that also featured Neneh Cherry, Vivian Goldman and Vicki Aspinall in its line-up. He also released New York-no wave singer Judy Nylon’s sole album 1982’s ‘Pal Judy’, worked with Akabu, the all-female reggae band and premiered Shara Nelson of Massive Attack fame on his label issuing her 1983 debut single ‘Aiming at Your Heart’. He also put out ‘Short and Sweet’, the 1992 debut album from Annie Anxiety Bandez under the Little Annie moniker and aided his daughter Denise Sherwood’s auspicious first album 2020’s ‘This Road’ on Evergreen Recordings.

The results are spectacular: the ten tracks produced by Sherwood, with half co-produced with the late great Lincoln ‘Style’ Scott and arranged by Skip ‘Little Axe’ McDonald, ring out with a vibrancy, richness and energy. From Rita Morar’s ‘Meri Awaaz Suno (Hear My Voice)’, a fragile, beautiful piece sung in Hindi over the Sacred Ground Rhythm and Tunisia’s Neyssatou’s potent take on Bob Marley’s ‘War’ sung in Arabic, to Kerieva McCormick’s (who spearheaded the project with Sherwood) hypnotic ‘Chavale’ sung in Romani, this is all crucial stuff.