Aya – Strange Flower

Sweetback (the band Sade without the singer Sade) has revamped their splash page – at least, since the last time I visited it. If you tune in now you can hear the voice of Singapore-born singer, Aya, albeit in compressed low-quality audio format.
I have been unable find Sweetback’s new album, Stage 2, in my regular haunts That CD Shop and HMV. It’s quite silly. You’d think these shops would stock it. And of course, they’ve never heard of Aya.
However, as mentioned previously, I did manage to purchase Aya’s album, Strange Flower, while in Perth. It is not bad at all, if you like electronica and chillout with an ethnic flavour. At this time of writing, it has a FIVE out of five star rating over at Amazon.com with a sales rank of about #5000.
[I repeat: these big retailers don’t know who this Singapore-born gal is, and their suppliers don’t stock her CDs.]
Her vocals aren’t as powerful and varied as the female singer for the first Sweetback album, Amel Larrieux, but is attractive in a vulnerable way. Some say she can’t sing, others love her style and say she was Sweetback’s saving grace in an otherwise ordinary second album. Two reviews (1) (2) write about the ‘personal’ feel of her music, each giving 4/5 stars.
Go figure. At least, the rest of the world has noticed her.
[Update: You can listen to samples of her album here.]