Meshell Ndegeocello's tenth studio album, Pour une âme souveraine (‘For a sovereign soul’) features 14 astonishingly creative arrangements of songs associated with Nina Simone. As an artist who similarly refuses to be corralled by genre or industry convention, the album's sound canvas is unashamedly vast – from the transcendent conclusion to ‘Feeling Good’ to the stone groove of ‘Be My Husband’ featuring the Memphis troubadour Valerie June. The latter also features on a brooding, minimalist ‘Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair’. The unfailingly beautiful voice of Lizz Wright lights up an all-too-brief ‘Nobody's Fault But Mine’ and Cody ChesnuTT sings ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’ with an intense lyrical power. There's some tasty instrumental work too, notably the wonderfully fluid flute playing of Tracy Wannomae on ‘See Line Woman’. Ndegeocello saves the best till last, with a version of ‘Four Women’ that possesses a truly indescribable power. Reaffirming the greatness of Nina Simone and her continuing legacy, Pour une âme souveraine also confirms Ndegeocello's position as one of the most singular artists of our time.