Laura Mvula – “Show Me Love” (Singles Going Steady)

Pryor Stroud: Taken from Mvula’s latest release The Dreaming Room, “Show Me Love” is an incantatory, gospel-tinged art-pop hymnal that drifts from moments of deep personal introspection to fissions of out-of-body spiritual awareness. The climactic eruption of orchestration is startling in its intensity; over it, Mvula repeats the title phrase over and over and over again, trying to stretch it out, to discover its true contents and phonetic subtleties, and to discern if expressing her love in the exact right way — “You show me love / You show me love / You show me love” — can somehow approximate the true feeling it gives her. [8/10]

Chris Ingalls: “Show Me Love” strays pretty far from Mvula’s previous single, “Phenomenal Woman”, which was basically her formidable pipes wrapped around a pretty standard dance beat. Here, she seems to channel the ethereal qualities of Bjork or Kate Bush. Her voice fits the gorgeous arrangement perfectly, and the lack of a consistent, thumping beat really works to the song’s advantage. Eventually, things build up toward the end, creating something unique and majestic. [8/10]

Chad Miller: This track is really interesting. The vocals and production are constantly intriguing while enhancing the piece’s natural beauty. The mechanized vocals create a beautiful contrast with the lush strings and glorious brass sections near the end. My only critique is that the ending seemed somewhat abrupt after the song’s peak. Otherwise, great track. [8/10]

SCORE: 8.00