AMERICANA
ESTHER ROSE
How Many Times FULL TIME HOBBY
8/10
New Orleans-based singer-songwriter offers rich, reconciliatory third
ESTHER ROSE has been quietly building a reputation these past few years. Her assured 2017 debut, the self-released This Time Last Night, found its way to Jack White, who was so taken with her voice that he invited her to sing on his latest solo effort, Boarding House Reach. Since then the Detroit-born songwriter (and Crescent City resident for the past decade) has found herself supporting Nick Lowe, Hurray For The Riff Raff and The Deslondes.
Released by the ever-discerning Full Time Hobby, How Many Times should go some way to spreading the word further. It’s a record that documents a particularly painful break-up, with Rose diarising the experience at the point where she’s caught between moving on and letting go. The lyrical tone of opening track “How Many Times” – “Thought I’d hit the bottom/But I’m falling fast/Tell me why is it so hard/To make a good thing last” – is at odds with the airy, almost carefree swoop of her voice. This very much sets the template for the rest of the album, as Rose channels longing and romantic despair via expansive songs that owe much to the feel of classic country from the ’60s and ’70s. “Keeps Me Running” is given light by Lyle Werner’s sunny fiddle; “My Bad Mood” is swept along by the two-step rhythm of an old-school dancehall; a deep, twangy guitar and slapping beat chase away the anguish of “Good Time”, a song that aligns Rose to modern luminaries like Caitlin Rose or Margo Price.
With Rose on acoustic guitar, she’s ably assisted throughout by a terrific band that includes lap-steel player Matt Bell, upright bassist Dan Cutler (best known for Hurray For The Riff Raff) and The Deslondes’ drummer, Cameron Snyder. The ensemble is at its best on the high-spirited “Mountaintop”. Meanwhile, Rose herself seems finally to achieve a sense of acceptance on the reflective “Songs Remain”. “Letting go doesn’t mean to lose”, she concludes. “To know you is to be forever changed”.
THE CITY CHAMPS
Luna 68 BIG LEGAL MESS/FAT POSSUM
8/10
The Bluff City trio return after a decade away
Because they hail from Memphis and because the organ is the most prominent instrument, it’s tempting to compare The City Champs to Booker T & The MG’s – a compliment certainly, but one that acknowledges only one facet of their sound. This trio, whose members have played with The Bo-Keys and St Paul & The Broken Bones, use Southern R&B as a springboard into oddball jazz, crunchy psych rock, elastic New Orleans grooves, even the mod soundtracks of Piero Umiliani. Emphasising vibe as well as groove, Luna 68 is their most confident and cinematic album yet, evoking both the past and the present of their hometown. STEPHEN DEUSNER
CLOUD NOTHINGS
The Shadow I Remember CARPARK
5/10
Indie outfit reunite with Steve Albini for album of fuzzy pop-rock
Almost a decade on from their breakthrough album Attack On Memory, Cloud Nothings – led by songwriter Dylan Baldi – reconnect with producer Steve Albini. As you’d expect, the drums sound triumphantly punchy, driving forward a record of sugary melodies and visceral rock. “Nothing Without You” places vocal harmonies over screeching guitars, while the rapid-fire assault of “The Spirit Of” pushes Baldi’s voice to a hoarse growl. The constant frenzied back and forth between power-pop hooks and furious noise, while fun, begins to feel a little repetitive as an inescapable feeling of ‘we’ve been here before’ takes hold. DANIEL DYLAN WRAY
CHRIS CORNELL
No One Sings Like You Anymore INTERSCOPE
5/10
Posthumous covers LP by late Soundgarden throat-shredder
While this posthumous project will be essential for committed fans of Soundgarden’s vocal powerhouse, the glossy cover versions on No One Sings Like You Anymore might struggle to capture the imagination of more casual listeners. Featuring 10 eclectic covers recorded by Cornell the year before his 2017 death, here Janis Joplin’s rugged blues masterpiece “Get It While You Can” is rendered unnecessarily slick, while Guns N’ Roses’ “Patience” plods rather than soars. Of course, the one thing it’s impossible to find fault with is Cornell’s voice, which remains impeccable throughout, especially on a gruff “Nothing Compares 2 U”. Still, it’s one for Cornell completists only. LEONIE COOPER
CHRIS CORSANO & BILL ORCUTT
Made Out Of Sound PALLALIA
8/10
Light touch on this return match between free-rock heavyweights
One of the delights of free improvisation is the confusion between whether the players are putting something together or tearing it apart. Having debuted a savage partnership with the fiery The Raw And The Cooked in 2013, here Corsano (drums) and Orcutt (guitar) settle into a more contemplative set, where Corsano’s sensitive roiling is throughout a strong partner to Orcutt’s glacial abstractions and melodic phrases. “How To Cook A Wolf” might serve to remind of the duo’s potential for trouble, but on “The Thing Itself” the pair are at their most graceful, rising airborne and serene above the disorder. JOHN ROBINSON
CATHAL COUGHLAN
Song Of Co-Aklan DIMPLE DISCS
7/10
returns Sharp-tongued , 10 years commentator on
Whether with Microdisney, The Fatima Mansions or intermittently across five solo albums, Coughlan has long displayed an angrily sardonic, socio-political stripe. His sixth is no less scathing regarding human behaviour within a rigged system, but alongside the disgust there’s eloquent reflection and bruised soul. It reunites him with the Grand Necropolitan Quartet, adding guests including Sean O’Hagan and Luke Haines, and shows off a rich, Scott Walker-ish voice that’s aging superbly, whether on the turbulent “Passed-out Dog” (“They said this would not come, trouble was in retreat/Now I’ve got human bone meal in my hair, cotton threads between my teeth”) or the dreamily delicate “Unrealtime”. A welcome return. SHARON O’CONNELL
NEIL COWLEY
Hall Of Mirrors MOTE
8/10
BBC Jazz Award winner returns to his first love
After dissolving his trio in 2018, London’s Neil Cowley turned to technology, but his slowly developing dissatisfaction confirmed that the piano remains his greatest inspiration. His tinkering wasn’t in vain, however: with his instrument electronically treated in multiple manners – and the addition of field recordings – his debut solo album, recorded intuitively in Berlin, sensitively showcases a quasi-‘ambient-jazz’. Opener “Prayer” and “Tramlines” sit comfortably between The Plateaux Of Mirror, Harold Budd’s collaboration with Brian Eno, and Nils Frahm’s Felt, but “Just Above It All” and “Stand Amid The Roar” are more dynamic, textured pieces in a Marconi Union vein.
