The best time that I ever had/ That’s when the worst times started.” This inner conflict determines Brittany Howard’s furious second album. She screams, complains, whimpers, growls, her soul is not of the well-behaved neo variety, but rather a hard soul whose gospel-trained fall height is always clear. It’s about life and death. The album is called “What Now”. Howard, known to many as the frontwoman of the blues rock band Alabama Shakes, confidently follows the path of her solo debut, “Jaime” (2019). She sticks a stick of dynamite between the vintage sounds of her old band and sets it on fire. Her solo songs explode in a number of directions, but their wild mix is not at all cerebral or pretentious. Their eclecticism is as organic as it is original and points to an appealing direction for the genre: The shape of soul to come. (Although their sound is probably too unique to really set a precedent.)
Howard is an exciting, absolutely contemporary artist
For a five-time Grammy winner performing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Elton John, one might get the idea that she is, first and foremost, a steward of the blues and soul legacy. However, every song on “What Now” refutes this assumption. Whether you take the funk groove of the title track or the slow jam “To Be Still” or the house track “Prove It To You” – everything is embedded with recurring ambient bells. Howard is an exciting, absolutely contemporary artist.
This is evident in the performances as well as in the production. Her rhythm section – Alabama Shakes bassist Zac Cockrell and drummer Nate Smith – plays deep grooves that allow her to shine as a singer and guitarist; Here and there session musicians provide guitars and keys. Howard recorded the album in Nashville and co-produced it with Shawn Everett (The War On Drugs, Big Thief), and the production values are excellent. By the way, she also mixed it with Everett, which artists usually don’t do themselves. Songwriting and sound design are inextricably linked here, carefully monitored by Howard, a sublime unity