'Dare to Love Free' by Eki Shola

'Dare to Love Free' serves as an incredibly bold, innovative and artistic statement from the indelibly talented Eki Shola.  

In its fully realised form, the 'Dare to Love' project boasts a whopping forty original songs and compositions that wander freely in between the realms of jazz, R&B, electronica, experimental and ambient.  Never trying to make music that adheres to rules or principles of preordained genres and styles, Shola's boundless talents have just proven to be unhindered in their perception of music and how to communicate it to its audience.

But the project's overarching scope extends significantly further than just the amount of songs included on the expansive release.  Shola's music has consistently been demonstrative of her evolution as an artist as well as a person.  Born in London before moving to California at a young age, Shola's experiences seem to have blessed her with an insatiable appetite for learning - as a qualified physician, that learning never stops and that's an ideology that has permeated through to her perspectives on music and composition.

Proudly wearing the tags of singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer, it's a mind-blowing roll-call of talents befitting the passion Shola exudes and the dedication each project is approached with.  A definitive milestone release within the Eki Shola catalogue came in the form of 2023's '還 (Kaeru)' - a project recorded and conceived in Japan, the album sought to document Eki's affections towards a place that has since gone on to bear tremendous significance to her on a personal and musical level.  

An adopted home of sorts, Japan's impact on '還 (Kaeru)' has also proved significant for 'Dare to Love Free', which is where the album's true brilliance lies.  For long-term fans of Eki Shola, her music has proved a living testament to her life, experiences and of course travels.  New instruments, new techniques, new skills are picked up on the way to each release and 'Dare to Love Free' is Shola at her most realised.  

An album that embraces each aspect of her personal make-up from her formative years in London, her adult life in California and her spiritual reawakening in Japan.  'Dare to Love Free' holds the weight of it all on its shoulders and it invites us to regard her with openness and sincerity.  The concept of home and identity seemed prevalent within Shola's music for some time now - sometimes addressing the questions about who we are can come with struggle and sometimes they can be the simplest questions to answer.  If '還 (Kaeru)' was asking where home was, 'Dare to Love Free' is Eki Shola's response.