Windrush Baby
To be a music lover in Wales is to be forever frustrated that the many talented people you see around you will rarely make a dent into the interests of their own country, let alone to the wider world. This is a fact I’m forever destined to try and help over turn, and one that Aleighcia Scott is fighting through hard work, determination and bags of talent.
In the past couple of years she’s gone from getting her own reggae songs onto the national radio station’s daily playlist, to having her own weekly evening radio show on there, playing the music she loves, from reggae and soul classics, to those many talented young Welsh artists who are still struggling to be heard.
Not stopping at BBC Radio Wales, she recently interviewed Chris Price from Peckings Records on BBC Radio 4’s One To One programme and she is now the official deputy for David Rodigan on his BBC 1Xtra show. As someone who grew up on Rodigan tapes, when he was easily one of the biggest reggae DJs in the whole world, holding his own in clashes with sound systems from Jamaica to Japan, and as someone who has booked him for Boomtown, so I know the power he still holds here in the UK, pulling in thousands of young people to hear him play at festivals, the fact that he has designated this wonderful Welsh woman to cover the UK’s flagship reggae show when he’s away, makes me incredibly happy. Not to mention the sense of national pride I can’t help but feel. It’s rare that somebody from here gets those opportunities so when it happens it’s a beautiful thing, and it’s important to celebrate these wins.
Rodigan’s cassettes were an important reggae lifeline for me growing up, however my favourite sound and arguably the number one in the world back then had to be Stone Love from Jamaica (although admittedly Killamanjaro eventually took first place for me). So I was also excited when I learned that one of their legendary selectors, Rory had produced an album with Aleighcia after inviting her out to his studio in Jamaica, a country she knows well from visiting family, as both of her dad’s parents emigrated to Wales from Trelawny, a parish on the north-west of the island.
The result ‘Windrush Baby’ is a perfect reggae album. By that I mean every track is high quality, no track sounds the same, and there’s been no compromise to try and make it something else that might be more ‘economically viable’. The opening track ‘First Love’ rolls into a dubbed out excursion for over half the tune in the classic style, as does ‘Mr Big Shot’ and no track is under 4 minutes long. Aleighcia says that every song is simply what came out naturally when they were hanging out in the studio and it certainly sounds that way, the production is tight but the feel is warm and easy.
The whole album draws heavily on classic reggae sounds from the 70s and 80s, but this isn’t an attempt to recreate the past, once again it’s what naturally came out for a singer who was raised on the sounds of Marcia Griffiths, John Holt and Louisa Mark. It’s a powerful Lovers Rock album but with some urgent yet uplifting Roots songs, all delivered with more than a touch of rnb soul in her vocals. It might be a clumsy comparison but I can’t help feel that if Amy Winehouse had made a reggae album, it wouldn’t have been a world away from this. Her songwriting is strong also, with just one cover on the album, a great take on John Holt’s Studio One classic ‘Do You Love Me’ -shortened here to ‘Do You’ (acknowledging that some songs were collaborations with others) . This isn’t just my favourite British reggae album of the year, it’s my favourite reggae album of 2023 so far, period.
‘Windrush Baby’ hit number one on the iTunes reggae chart immediately, however in order for it to stay there it needs to reach out even further than her dedicated fan base. If you’re from Wales and you like reggae music, then you have no excuse not to own this album unless you’re skint in which case jump on the streaming and rinse it as much as you can. In fact wherever you are in the world this is a must have for any reggae fan. Aleighcia Scott has the talent and material to rise through the ranks of the reggae world, let’s hope she has the opportunities. She has already delivered memorable shows at Glastonbury, Boomtown, Latitude, Notting Hill Carnival, Green Man and Kendal Calling, plus she’s supported acts such as Tarrus Riley and Soul II Soul and went around the UK this year with Gentleman’s Dub and The Skints. Now it’s time for the rest of the world to catch up (that said her statistics say that at least 91 countries are listening to the album so far)! Your support can help make that happen. You can catch her live yourself when she tours the album in March next year, driving her band round the country in ‘Trevor', her new transit minibus with the registration R444GAE. Plus you can pick up a copy of the album now.
Finally I can’t recommend her radio show enough, it’s every Thursday at 7pm on BBC Radio Wales - you can pick it up anywhere in the world on BBC Sounds. Plus she’s also moved into TV, hosting Weatherman Walking on BBC 1 and Gwyl Y Dyn Gwyrdd on S4C alongside Huw Stephens, covering Green Man highlights in Welsh. Not bad for someone who has only been learning the language for just over a year!
