Album Review: Erykah Badu - New Amerykah Part 2: Return Of The Ankh

As someone only properly acquainted with Erykah Badu after the release of her (deservedly) lauded last album, New Amerykah Pt. 1: 4^th World War, the wait for the follow up has been characterised by both excitement and trepidation. That record was a bold statement in all senses of the word, standing out from both her own past work and that of her contemporaries like little else. Its frequent brilliance was largely due to context – here was an album that seethed with righteous anger at the state of a world increasingly polarised by a series of hugely destructive wars and ideological rifts. 4^th World War was striking in that it both accepted these harsh truths and casually dismissed them at once; her voice couldn’t have sounded more languid than on ‘The Healer’ as she reeled off an alternative mantra, “Hip-hop/Is bigger than religion… Hip-hop/Is bigger than the government”.

Fast forward a couple of years and the question remains hanging: how to appropriately follow such a grand gesture? It’s not as though the world’s troubles have settled in the interim period, after all. The clue to Badu’s answer lies in the album’s title, Return Of The Ankh, a reference to the Egyptian symbol of life and fertility. Her second New Amerykah has arrived at a time of prosperity and heralds the return of vitality to her world, if not to the planet at large. It’s hard not to read at least a little into her personal life through the window she has offered here, in the wake of the birth of her third child - Return Of The Ankh is an album deeply in thrall to the heady chemical intoxication of love in all forms.

So where 4^th World War was harsh and overbearingly physical, its follow up drifts through the air like the invisible scent of pheromones. In terms of pure sonics, tracks like ‘Window Seat’ and ’20 Feet Tall’ glide softly where earlier counterparts like ‘Soldier’ exuded a placeless sense of foreboding. Paired with Badu’s heady delivery, early highlight ‘Gone Baby, Don’t Be Long’ is simply gorgeous, riding off a sumptuous soul vocal backline and an ambiguous address, perhaps to her new young un - “I can’t wait to see what you’ll be”. The Madlib-produced ‘Umm Hmm’ hits another peak, assembled into a seamless patchwork quilt of rising chimes and sixties kitsch.

During the first few listens it’s undeniably tempting to write Return Of The Ankh off as a shift back to her earlier form, neutered slightly by its tempered fury and lack of overt political sentiment. As an entire album it certainly flows at a far more measured pace throughout. Repeated exposure however reveals an entirely more complex beast, positive in initial appearance but pockmarked with a distinctly human doubt and sense of humour that elevates it to similar heights as its predecessor.

‘You Lovin’ Me’ is a supremely accurate summary of the oft-strange nature of devotion, and three part closer ‘Out Of My Mind, Just In Time’ is simply spectacular, offering a glimpse of Badu with her defenses lowered further than ever before. Before the song blasts into orbit over cosmic spirals of piano and vocal harmony, its opening gambit carries one of the album’s most telling lyrics, “I’m a recovering undercover over-lover/Recovering from a love I can’t get over” - quite the admission for an artist who only a few years ago looked to have lost the momentum her early career established, and an indicator of boundless creative confidence. Let’s hope there’s more where this came from.