Kashief Lindo brings love with new album
In the era of flamboyant deejays and singjays, reggae’s purists long for the days of artistes with melodies. For that, you need more singers, like Kashief Lindo.
The South Florida-based vocalist has a new album out. Titled Love On, it is heavy on romance, with its 14 songs delivered on ska, rock steady and lovers rock beats.
Released on October 1 by Heavy Beat Records, the set is produced by his father, Willie Lindo who said maximum effort went into crafting Kashief’s first album in nine years.
“A new album is always a big deal. Most of the songs are straight-up love songs. People seem to gravitate towards that in this time,” the senior Lindo told OBSERVER ONLINE.
Twelve of the songs on Love On are original. They include the title which calls for global unity, the dancehall-lite She’s The Kinda Girl and Can’t Run Away From Your Heart, which is driven by the beat of The Paragons’ Hooligan.
Willie Lindo played on numerous hit songs as a guitarist, such as Dat by Pluto Shervington, Everything I Own by Ken Boothe and Dennis Brown’s Should I. He is also an acclaimed producer, having directed Brown on Love Has Found its Way and Inseparable; Beres Hammond on What One Dance Can Do and Boris Gardiner for I Wanna Wake up With You.
Lindo produced Kashief’s initial hits just over 20 years ago, including the uptempo No Can Do. He is confident Love On has the quality for him to make a return to the charts.
“Prisoner of Love can be a monster hit if it gets the right attention and then there is the lead song (Can’t Run Away From Your Heart), everybody is loving it,” he said.
Originally done by James Brown, Kashief’s version of Prisoner of Love has enjoyed steady rotation on South Florida Caribbean radio. Goodbye Now Forever is Love On’s other cover; a ska track, it was made popular in the 1960s by The Clarendonians.
Kashief Lindo, 43, plays an integral production role in Heavy Beat Records, the company his father started over 30 years ago. He has never stopped recording songs, scoring a handful of hits in South Florida in the last two years.
“Kashief born to do this. If yuh want him to sing a heavy bass voice even when him was a boy he could sing it. If yuh want him to sing a classical song, opera, he can sing it. Wi get to hear different sides to him on this album,” said Willie Lindo.
