Ziggy returns with his much anticipated new studio album ‘Love is My Religion’. ‘This album is from my heart’ says Ziggy and it attempts to embrace both the spiritual and emotional side of life. The album contains twelve tracks and highlights Ziggy’s musical ability, both in his songwriting and musicianship, as he plays most of the instruments on the album. He also produces several of the tracks and co-produces the remainder with Ross Hogarth.

From the opening track, you’re instantly struck by the maturity and individuality of the sound Ziggy has created. Opening with ‘Into the Groove’ Ziggy delivers an extremely impressive up-beat African/reggae blend, the percussion makes this tune extremely danceable, creating an up-full feeling of happiness and Irie times. Next up is ‘Love is My Religion’, a unifying song to all people that love is the answer, beautifully simple in its creation, the song will have you smiling and singing along from the first spin. ‘Make some Music’ is deep, low down, romantic and sexy, with a wicked bass riddim. ‘Friend’ follows, reminding me somewhat of Lucky Dube. The song itself deals with friendship, both on a personal and world level. The song has yet more African overtones, a reoccurring theme throughout the album. ‘Black Cat’ is fresh, joyous and played inna Ska style, dealing with conquering prejudice and stereotypes, personally one of my favorite tracks. Love is the overriding theme of this release and ‘On the Beach in Hawaii’ is a fine example of this. Dreamy is the best way to describe this track, images of sun-kissed golden sands and wishful days spent with your loved-one. The track boasts some wonderful acoustic guitar playing. ‘Lifetime’ is another ode to love, it’s powerful, deep and meaningful with a super chorus. ‘Be Free’ has a more traditional reggae sound to it, exploring the theme of renouncing fear and oppression. ‘Keep on Dreamin’ finds Ziggy singing of connecting with his father through his dreams, a very personal and spiritual song.

Another of my favorites follows - ‘Still the Storms’ sings of slavery, war and a world in crisis. Ziggy uses the analogy of hurricanes and their paths across the sea, with the paths of slave ships from the coast of West Africa. This track has a heavy, bass-fueled, up-tempo riddim and a dark brooding feel. The album rounds off with an acoustic version of ‘Love is my Religion’ and dub of ‘Be Free’.

Overall ‘Love is My Religion’ proves beyond doubt that Ziggy is extremely capable of creating joyous, exuberant music that’s enormously infectious. The album explores the social, personal and political themes associated with reggae, yet this has more substance than most. Avoiding all the old reggae clichés, never praising Rastafari or quoting scriptures, this album still remains deeply spiritual, but more importantly deeply personal.

Review by JumpUp

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