Having spent the last half decade building up a name as a jazz and soul singer of rare distinction, Ada Morghe has announced that her fourth album Pure Good Vibes will be released on June 13th. She launches the album alongside its first single and title track, which features the British reggae icon Maxi Priest.
Ada Morghe
A trip to Jamaica in January 2024 set Pure Good Vibes in motion. Morghe headed to the island after hearing that her bassist and producer Livingstone Brown, was flying there to work with Maxi Priest. It was an idea that was underlined by her desire to explore the music, culture and Jamaican heritage that had also shaped the lives of her other band members Luke Smith (keyboard) and Josh McNasty (drums). An album project wasn’t the initial plan, but she felt spellbound, both personally and creatively, by what she experienced during her Caribbean adventure.
Morghe says: “I felt very much at home in Jamaica. I loved the spiritual side of the island, and the music of course, so Livingstone and I had an amazing creative journey and ended up with more than enough songs and ideas for an album.”
The resulting album is a beautiful, intimate reflection on adult themes, such as keeping the passion alive, making the most of life’s sweet moments and capturing the closeness of two people in love, which is underpinned by a sound that, though not beholden to Jamaica’s musical traditions, certainly shares a spirit with them. There are other influences – such as Michael Kiwanuka’s soulful fervour, the vibrancy of ‘60s R&B, and a love of Sade’s ‘Diamond Life’ album which dates back to her childhood – but the shadow of the island looms large.
Written by Ada Morghe, Livingstone Brown and Maxi Priest, the lead single and title track Pure Good Vibes possess a laid-back reggae lilt and is the song most clearly influenced by Jamaica – and not least because Maxi Priest’s vocal is the perfect foil for Ada Morghe’s torch singer elegance. Produced by Livingstone Brown and Ada, she adds: “Maxi came to the studio, and he smashed it. He was very supportive, and very natural in his approach.”
Before stepping whole-heartedly into music, Ada Morghe was already a renowned actress and an award-winning author in her homeland of Germany. Having written and starred in the play-turned-film Frau Mutter Tier and been asked to write songs for its soundtrack, she found herself working with former Prince sound engineer Hans-Martin Buff. That led her to Abbey Road studios in London, her debut album Pictures, and 2020’s Box, an expression of her refusal to be tied down to any one genre or profession. From there came 2023’s Lost, a free-flowing vocal jazz suite based on the four elements, each of which were represented by her regular band, who are completed by guitarist Luca Boscagin.
Pure Good Vibes, however, pulls her toward what sounds like her most natural album yet: sophisticated jazz and soul that deals with both the romance and reality of matters of the heart.
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