Becca Stevens / Jade Collective
Becca Stevens
Image courtesy of the artist
Jade Collective
Image courtesy of the artists
Always reaching, always expanding, Becca Stevens reinvents herself once again with her new album, Regina. In the years since the release of her critically acclaimed third album, Perfect Animal, Stevens has undertaken a journey that began with a study of Queen Elizabeth I. This expanded into tributes to various queens from history, literature, folklore, and her own imagination, to songs inspired by the regal and divine, and finally to Regina as a voice.
Regarding her muse for the album, Stevens says, “Regina has become an alter ego, or an imaginary friend. Like a dream, she exists separate from me but is reliant upon my consciousness to exist. I carry her with me in everything now. So I guess you could say that neither ends; in Becca, there is always Regina, and in Regina, there is always Becca.”
Stevens’s style has always evaded categorization, and with Regina, even more so. One hears pop, rock, R&B, and funk side-by-side with traditional Appalachian and British folk, classical, world music, and jazz. Intricate instrumentation and rhythms seamlessly intertwine with vocals and melodies that draw you in and stay with you.
Jade Collective is a Boston-based contemporary jazz/folk band. The band released its debut album, Clarity, in September 2016.