Testimony:Vol.1.Life & Relationship

There's nothing like taking on the big issues, and that's exactly what India.Arie does on her powerful third album 'Testimony: Vol. 1, Life & Relationship'. The title alone is an unmistakable signal that in the more than three years since her last Grammy winning album, 'Voyage To India' appeared, India has grown even more ambitious. That should hardly be a surprise. After all, her 2001 debut album, 'Acoustic Soul', which earned her seven Grammy nominations, announced that an artist who is unafraid to speak her mind had entered the music scene.

The first half of 'Testimony…' finds India mapping an internal landscape of loss on the track 'Good Mourning'. A bold, beautiful cover of Don Henley's 'The Heart of the Matter' establishes what might ultimately be 'Testimony's…' most profound theme: forgiveness. On the lovely 'Wings Of Forgiveness', India defines that essential theme in her own generous terms. Akon joins India on 'I Am Not My Hair', a song that returns her to the issue that first brought her national attention with the hit 'Video': those women should not be defined by their looks. That desire to live free of expectations also sits at the heart of 'I Choose', a song whose buoyant funk gets lifted by Bonnie Raitt's guest turn on guitar. In an even more striking collaboration, Gary Lenox of Rascal Flatts harmonizes with India on the wistful 'Summer'.

India continues to make good on that promise. 'Testimony…' explores relationships with the honesty, depth and vulnerability that she has made her hallmark. Floating on hypnotic rhythms and delicate melodies, the album travels a journey from heartbreak to acceptance to transcendence, and communicates all the personal wisdom gathered along the way.