Brittany Howard - What Now

  by Zena Grieg

published: 8 / 3 / 2024

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Ex-Alabama Shakes blues band lead singer Brittany Howard has released a new solo album, a follow-up to her 2019 ‘Jaime’. ‘What Now’, recorded in Nashville with producer Shawn Everett during the pandemic, traverses funk-rock, techno, jazz, new age, the songs tinged with sadness, reflecting the end of her marriage to Jesse Lafser in 2019, a leitmotif how we are in thrall to relationships. Interspersed between the songs is the sound of singing bowls, played by sound bath practitioners Ann Sensing and Ramona Reid, against a backdrop of impressionist moments building into intense emotion. Songs to listen out for in this eleven-track collection include: the opener, the slow-burning, dramatic ‘Earth Sound’, a revery on love; the melodic 70s style soul ballad ‘I Don’t’; the catchy funk-rock title track; ‘Red Flags’ with its hypnotic, insinuating beat, circular melody and soaring vocals; the layered, multi-track harmonies on ‘To Be Still’; the anthemic ‘Another Day’: “We were born in a time to change the paradigm/Peace is the prize of our timeline”; the jazz ballad ‘Samson’ with its innovative sound including the use of a crystal baschet; ‘ Patience’ with its warped keyboard effects; and the mesmerising closer ‘Every Color In Blue’ with its looping piano chords and trumpet solo, a study in intensity and vulnerability. Experimental, sonically rich and diverse, ‘What Now’ instils a beguiling sense of longing and peace.

Track Listing:-

1 Earth Sign
2 I Don't
3 What Now
4 Red Flags
5 To Be Still
6 Interlude
7 Another Day
8 Prove It To You
9 Samson
10 Patience
11 Power To Undo
12 Every Color In Blue

Band Links:-

https://www.brittanyhoward.com/
https://www.facebook.com/brittanyhowardofficial/
https://twitter.com/blkfootwhtfoot

Label Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/VirginEmiRecords/
https://twitter.com/VirginEMI
http://www.virginemirecords.com/

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