BRITTANY HOWARD

What Now (Island)

When Alabama Shakes rode into town a decade ago, their rootsy rock’n’soul sound was a powerful aural reckoning that wooed many worldwide. Brittany Howard’s voice alone has that stop-in-your-tracks emotional pull, akin to Aretha Franklin or Tina Turner – or indeed both combined. 

The Shakes decided to put things on hold in 2018, with no inter-band tensions evident; Howard released her debut solo album, a mystical blend of psychedelic soul titled Jaime, the following year. With follow-up What Now, she’s upped the stakes even further with an album that fuses a smorgasbord of style and emotion that works magnificently as a whole.

Love and how we connect – or don’t – is a recurring theme on an album that needs to be heard from start to finish to fully appreciate. Prove It To You and the title track are slam-dunk funk belters Prince or Jam & Lewis would have been stunned by, and the ingenious, deeply moving album closer Every Color In Blue, like Radiohead recording with John Coltrane, is surely going to resonate during these tumultuous times. A magnificent all-killer-no-filler album.

words DAVID NOBAKHT