Four years came and went between Marsha Ambrosius' Friends & Lovers and Nyla, during which the singer and songwriter was featured throughout Dr. Dre's Compton and heard on albums by Common, A Tribe Called Quest, Nipsey Hussle, and Royce da 5'9". Moreover, she and Natalie Stewart temporarily reactivated Floetry for touring -- during which she fell in love -- and started a family. Titled after her daughter's name, Ambrosius' third album could have understandably concerned little more than newfound love and domesticity, but the variety of emotions and situations here is just as vast as it is on the first two full-lengths. Ambrosius and her fellow producers, including Focus..., Dem Jointz, Darhyl Camper, and Benny Cassette, refresh the mix of classic and modern styles that filled the earlier LPs. The metaphorical "Bottle Fulla Liquor" is the most up to date: synthetic soul that booms and sparkles just enough to stick out on commercial radio. Tracks elsewhere nearly spill over with vintage and current elements, as in "Luh Ya," where the "Ashley's Roachclip" break, elements of trap-style production, and a hint of Michael Jackson's "The Lady in My Life" all compete for room. The album's last six songs are particularly heavy, as if Ambrosius recorded the first nine, felt she needed one more to finish it off, wrote and recorded half a dozen for consideration, and chose to keep the lot since they're all purposeful and of approximately equal quality. Yearning hooks over winding grooves remain Ambrosius' sure-fire combination, delivered most potently early on in "Flood," the closest the album gets to "Far Away," and "I Got It Bad," rhythmically an immediate descendant of D'Angelo's "Spanish Joint." ~ Andy Kellman