New music

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2022 (1589 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

 

ROOTS

The Bros. Landreth
Come Morning (Birthday Cake)

The Bros. Landreth flew pretty close to the sun in the middle of the last decade, winning a Juno Award and landing an American deal. They may have also stayed on the road a year longer than was wise. Dave Landreth, the elder, bass-playing brother, took a break while singer/guitarist Joey released two solo records, but the brothers eventually reconvened for a 2019 album titled ’87, only to see their touring plans dashed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Joey Landreth has since said the disruption was a good thing (musically, of course), as the forced isolation gave him and Dave time to find a clarity of purpose they didn’t achieve on the ’87 sessions.

The brothers sat down and began to write songs in earnest, stripping their songs down to the bare essentials of melody, harmony and groove until they were certain of what they wanted to say, and how they wanted to say it. Eventually they began recording, working remotely with Joey’s studio as the hub. Murray Pulver co-produced, Daniel Roy and Aaron Sterling joined in on drums and percussion and guests such as Leith Ross (vocals) and Joe Pisapia (pedal steel) also added parts, but the heart of this album is Joey and Dave — their voices, their talent, their shared musical understanding, all working in service of the songs.

The finished article is a compelling reboot of the Bros. Landreth. These 10 tunes are undoubtedly their most personal material yet — musically understated yet heartfelt expressions of the love and hope and fear and doubt all of us feel, all the time. The sound is still broadly rooted in the rootsy, Americana vibe that is the Landreths’ musical foundation, but its tone is intimate, almost hushed. The music’s disparate elements — keening guitars that don’t overpower the songs, fluidly soulful bass, gently swinging drums, sweet vocal harmonies and, most intriguing, Joey’s expressive keyboard work on piano, synth and Hammond B3 — create an enveloping, seductive mood and a great leap forward.

Come Morning will be released Friday on the Landreths’ own Birthday Cake label. ★★★★1/2 out of 5 stars

STREAM THESE: Drive All Night, You Don’t Know Me, Corduroy

— John Kendle

 

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R&B

Ella Mai
Heart on My Sleeve (10 Summers/Interscope Records)

British singer Ella Mai is back with even more R&B bridges in her second album, Heart on My Sleeve.

While this album radiates finger-snapping tracks and smooth melodies similar to that found on her debut, it’s also more passionate and sung by someone who’s a little older and wiser. Mai’s debut album, released in 2018, went double platinum and her hit single Boo’d Up went on to win a Grammy for best R&B song. She was 23 when her debut album was released; with this album, at 27, she shows she is an artist and that she knows love isn’t clear-cut.

Mai has never shied away from love songs, but this sophomore album shows more sides of the singer. The tracks highlight all the sides to falling in love, the healthy sides and even the toxic relationships. Leave U Alone shows the uncontrollable nature of being in love, while Hide is a ballad finding vulnerability.

Her sound stays true to R&B but also brings in fun pop vibes. Fallen Angel is a true lovestruck romantic track, while DMFU, another of the album’s singles, is a lush R&B number about the risk of romance and the ways it might sour. Her track Feels Like is about taking back power and control in a relationship.

The album also features collaborations with Latto, Lucky Daye and Roddy Ricch. A Mess, featuring Daye, really highlights finding love at the wrong times.

Mai put in the time to craft the album and it shows because it feels cohesive and the 15 tracks she picked feel honest. Heart on My Sleeve proves that there’s still room for love songs and romance in R&B. ★★★1/2 out of five

STREAM THESE: DMFU, A Mess

— Karena Phan, The Associated Press

 

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JAZZ

Andy Zimmerman
Half Light (Newvelle Records)

Tenor saxophonist Andy Zimmerman released an exclusively vinyl LP in 2018 that has only now been released in digital form. It was his first release as leader with a stellar quartet featuring trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist Kevin Hays and bassist Matt Penman. The compositions are mainly Zimmerman’s except for wonderful covers of Bess You Is My Woman Now, and Ellington’s Sunset and the Mockingbird. As is often the case for drummerless quartets, there is a gentler groove with other instruments offering the rhythmic base.

Zimmerman’s tunes are complex and weave across a melodic structure that is very endearing. His tenor sound is usually restrained and excels in the ballad mode of many of the tracks. Hays’s piano is a constant pleasure, and of course any contribution from Douglas is always solid. The Bay Area and the title track are simply beautiful, sounding original and yet somehow familiar and comforting. Perhaps that is a good descriptor here: this music is comforting — lovely, with convoluted solos and arrangements that maintain a generally peaceful mood. Album notes suggest that the tunes are “sketches that he lets the band tease apart and put back together.” Lena’s Dance is clearly a dance at a quicker tempo and feeling, with a neat solo by Penman. The two cover tracks are striking arrangements that are excellent choices to augment the original compositions.

Apparently the original vinyl release gained a sufficient audience that folks were pushing for a wider accessibility. Having not heard the LP, I’m delighted that the album is now more available. It is a great feel-good release that offers ongoing pleasure. ★★★★1/2

STREAM THESE: Half Light, Sunset and the Mockingbird

— Keith Black

 

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CLASSICAL

Schubert: Die Schöne Müllerin
Gerald Finley & Julius Drake (Hyperion)

Canadian baritone Gerald Finley with collaborative pianist Julius Drake complete their series of Schubert song cycles on this early June release with Die Schone Mullerin, based on Wilhelm Muller’s poetry.

The lushly romantic work was composed in 1823, the title translating to The Maid of the Mill. Finley brings lyrical eloquence to each of its 20 lieder, or songs, from his opening Das Wandern, through to the set’s final Des Baches Wiegenlied. The Grammy-winning singer’s mellifluous vocals float through several album highlights, including Tranenregen, and the decidedly darker Die liebe Farbe, performed with the same world-weary resignation as heard in the duo’s 2013 release of the same composer’s Winterreise.

The album’s sweet spot is Morgengruss, with the baritone’s strong narrative ability and poetic sensibility weaving the wistful tale of longing for the slumbering maiden to “shake off the veil of dreams.”

Other more contrasting selections include Mein! Der Jager and a particularly quick-paced Wohin?, showcasing the singer’s dramatic range, with seamless phrasing throughout, as well as Drake’s sensitive partnering. The latter’s virtuosic technique is also on full display during Eifersucht und Stolz, propelled by rapid-fire figuration and percussive chords punctuating Finley’s vocal lines; both artists showing the exultant highs and plummeting lows of love and loss, as timeless as ever. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THIS: Morgengruss from Schubert’s Die Schone Mullerin

— Holly Harris