If you’re just looking at the track lengths listed for Muhsinah’s day.break, it’d be hard to conceive how 10 songs squeezed into a little over 27 minutes could provide much in terms of listening. How much can really be done in about two-and-a-half minutes? It turns out, a lot. Muhsinah manages to pack a variety of sounds into every dense composition, causing even the most casual listener to key in on one aspect for the first spin and then something else for all the subsequent listens. Magically, though, the multiple layers manage to work harmoniously and create a sonically pleasing product.

Her 2005 debut, The Oscillations EP, displayed similar characteristics to day.break, but more importantly it caught the attention of the right people. Overseas tastemakers such as the BBC Radio 1Xtra’s Benji B took notice of tracks like “Construction” and the Northeast D.C. native was on the map. Not bad considering that prior to 2004, Muhsinah’s primary focus had been on music production and not her now distinctive vocals.

The overall package is hard to categorize by conventional notions. Labels such as “broken beat” don’t quite fit because the syncopation traits aren’t similar to that genre’s leaders. Muhsinah’s style is too abstract to be confined by R&B. Musically, standard conceptions of hip-hop really can’t capture what she’s doing, since she’s drawing on multiple sources, notably Brazilian jazz and ’70s psychedelic rock, often at the same time. There are few artists, Georgia Anne Muldrow is one other that comes to mind, who play in the same soundscape as she does.