After the Afterburner
This is a solid album, driven by Brown’s mildly hoarse vocal
but also the songwriting and arrangements, an ordinary enough combination but
not always the case in all that’s out there. Another appeal is the mixture of
genres embraced by the songs: soul, gospel, folk, blues, a tinge of country.
Not one dominates and not one palls by being in the mix. It is consummate in
its variation, though there isn’t an obvious clincher in terms of original
and/or stand-out melody. Opening track House
Been Burning suggests a soulful, blues depth but this isn’t sustained
though the quality of overall singing is.
There are very effective arrangements in the supporting
vocals, for example second track When We
Get There where the sound is similar to early Rickie Lee Jones [and the harmonica of Neil Young], though I
hear that echo also on third track Solely
when Brown is singing at her higher, and smoother register, this song
benefitting from the atmospheric musicianship of plaintive violin, echoing
guitars a la Daniel Lanois, and its tight harmonies. It truly is a sweet vocal from Brown here and
these opening three tracks are a strong start. Fifth I Left Home is a blues peach with juicy acoustic slide guitar and slightly echoed sultry vocal: my favourite on the album.
It is worth being aware that this is an album of essentially
restrained songs – it doesn’t present belters or raucous renditions, though I
suspect Brown could go there with some sense of a dynamic range in Lift Us where she does project. The
album ends on a gospel If You Let Me which
is earnestly emotive rather than soaring and Brown will I suspect need to flick
on the Joss Stone afterburners at some stage in her career, rightly or wrongly,
to get the notice I think she deserves.
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