On a Day Like This …

Meklit Hadero’s debut album is one of those rare gems you hope to find every once in a while. Each song is breathtakingly perfect, and each one presents a new musical twist on what singer-songwriter Hadero—who was born in Ethiopia, raised in Brooklyn, N.Y., and lives in San Francisco—is capable of. From its gentle, lyrically lovely opener “Walk Up” (“Walk up, walk up, straight through the roof, straight through the hole in the ceiling, take your place in the sky … No more gravity …”) to “Abbay Mado,” Hadero’s honeyed version of a traditional Ethiopian song, to her spare, warbly, jazzy cover of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” this disc is destined to hit in some kind of big way. Hadero, whose first gig was only five years ago, is just one of those people who was meant to be a singer, it seems—and one who has the ability with her unique voice, sensibility and songwriting to touch listeners deeply. Track 7, “Soleil Soleil,” featuring David Boyce’s wacky tenor sax screeches, is oddly infectious, and “Call” opens with the playful “My heavy, sweet orange made the branch bow low. Low, low, low, low, low.” Great supporting musicians, including Eliyahu Sills on upright bass, Adam Young on cello and Charith Premawardhana on viola.