Raheem De Vaughan :
The Love Experience

Release Date: 11 July 2005

Reviewed By: GE Torto

1. Voice (Intro)

2. Love Experience

3. Guess Who Loves You More

4. Who

5. Where I Stand

6. Breathe

7. You

8. Sweet Tooth

9. Ask Yourself

10. Believe

11. Is It Possible

12. Catch 22

13. Until

14. Cadillac

15. Green Leaves

16. Thank You

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“Welcome to the love experience. A deep and tender inevitable feeling of affection towards a person, such as a rise in kingship, recognising attractive qualities, or a sense of undeniable oneness. So I propose a question to you – are you feeling love today?” 

The defining, intriguing, yet rhetorical opening words of Raheem DeVaughn’s record, ‘The Love Experience’, sets the tone for a most welcome addition to any modern day soul library. And what an addition, or shall I say experience, this is. Recall to mind the first time you heard Dwele’s ‘Without You’, Glenn Lewis’ ‘Something To See’, or dare I say Jill Scott’s ‘Cross My Mind’; emotive sounds that can but only pierce the roughest of exteriors to stimulate the concept of love within any listeners heart. Just as those unearthed gems of ‘neo soul’ ooze in summery soulful vibes, Raheem DeVaughn follows suit, combining the velvet softness of a voice of substantial range with a mixture of guitar enthused, harmony-filled, rhythmically soothing tracks sprinkled with simplistic story-telling lyrics. 

‘Guess Who Loves You More’ alone is a demonstration of this artist’s unquestionable talent. An unadorned, uncomplicated, undemanding declaration of Raheem’s unchallengeable love for another, ‘Guess Who Loves You More’ mixes chord–based guitar riffs with an effective bass line to sublime effect. Harmonically exquisite, this track wraps its hands around your head and animates your neck into a bopping movement of submissive approval. 

Of similar ilk, is the softly staccato-driven, andante-paced ‘Where I Stand’, where Raheem eloquently depicts the predicament of whether a friendship should progress onto something more. However well Raheem executes these typically neo-soul joints, Mr DeVaughn is by no means a one trick-pony, the album’s title track is a mild mix of hip-hop and subtlety driven rock guitars that switches between three noticeable musical hooks. The element of rock and indeed a display of Raheem’s variation in sound is no more evident than in ‘Cadillac’, a track that easily could have been a product of Prince or Lenny Kravitz. 

True to form, Raheem is conscious of all neighbouring genres and the gritty composition ‘Sweet Touch’ has ‘club joint’ written all over it. It says much of DeVaughn’s voice that it sounds at ease and unforced on such an assortment of genres however closely related they may be. The tongue in cheek comparison between his subject and his fondness of confectionery illustrates that lyrically, Raheem can adopt a play on words to linguistically fashion imagery in a creative manner with great ease. 

Yet the defining element and quintessential factor that prevents Raheem DeVaughn from becoming just another sub-standard contributor to this modern-day equivalent of soul music, is the simplistic, innovative ingredient of his approach coupled by a clarity expressed both in his voice and his message. It is fitting that the ‘Is It Possible’ track also covered by Dwele is placed on this album, because comparisons between the two certainly exist. Dwele defined his ‘Subject’ and Raheem DeVaughn expressed in his own words what ‘The Love Experience’ is to him. 

‘The Love Experience’ from beginning to end, from the spoken intro to the melodic thank you conclusion is an encounter of excellence.  

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

Top 3 tracks:

Guess Who Loves You More

Where I Stand

Is It Possible

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