Follow the voice and you will find Sy Smith in all kinds of places. See Sy on stage blending voice with horn on tour with trumpeter Chris Botti. See Sy on stage covering for the missed notes of America's Idols. See Sy on stage backing Michelle Ndege Ocello's machine gun funk. See Sy on stage flowing over conga drums at a Go Go in her native DC. See Sy everywhere. The epitome of the bi-coastal Independent, Sy’s elastic vocals have smoothed out the rough edges for a range of acts from Whitney Houston to Raheem DeVaughn to Little Benny to Rich Medina. For such a ubiquitous performer, the Los Angeles based Sy has remained somewhat of a mystery. Her ability to move in and out of varying musical landscapes without a hint of difficulty has begged the question…

“Will the real Sy Smith please stand?”

But on Conflict, the singer uses her third solo release to clear up any misconceptions that may have persisted due to her chameleon like talent and uber-professionalism. The album opens with “Conflict,” Smith's melodic rejection of the precepts of dichotomous logic and its inhibitions on a life worth living. Smith's treatment of the intellectually and emotionally bankrupt idea of either/or, ugly/beautiful, red state/blue state or any other false divisions is appropriately couched in terms of society imposed catechisms. She gets right to the heart of what makes such thinking so self defeating.

"This is danger, This is safe, This is caution out of place"

The opening salvo also captures the album’s perfectly subversive symmetry of off-kilter social commentary and psychedelic in-joke while setting the stage for what is to come—intelligent re-workings of conventional wisdom. Even the sonorous beauty of "Minnie's Reprise," Smith's powerful rendition of a Minnie Ripperton classic, is subverted when after the last haunting note has drifted softly away Smith flips the script by blurting out...

”Will all the people from Compton please leave?”

Conflict represents much more than an appreciative nod at duality however. The songs that effectively contrast Smith's more airy vocals with a rumbling in-the-pocket bass line present her at her best and allow Sy to let loose with her ability to ride multi-step beats with dead-on timing. Check the bouncy gem "B-Side Love Affair" for proof. The girl’s got rhythm.

With such a large repository of influences to draw from it seemed logical that getting the true Sy Smith to stand up would be a challenge. But this was all a mirage, the question was never how she'd be able to make a comprehensible whole out of such disparate parts, but how she was going to do it so effortlessly. The true question was “when” and not “if” and the answer is implicit in the music where everything is coming together. Her voice has gotten stronger. Her tone has gotten richer. Her lyrics have gotten wittier.

Conflict is Sy Smith's spear in the carcass of dichotomous logic as well as a definitive clarification of just who Sy Smith is. As a result there is actually very little conflict in Conflict. Peace is good.