What Now
Album by Brittany Howard
Released 9 February 2024
Psychedelic Soul
Produced by Howard / Shawn Everett
Rating – 8/10
If you’re wondering where all of your eclecticism went, Brittany Howard has it.
–
While far from ordinary, Alabama Shakes have seldom displayed the eclecticism that frontwoman Brittany Howard has through her solo output. Prior to the band’s 2018 break, the Alabamans re-revolutionised southern rock on albums like Sound & Color, which came straight from the garage. Howard, on the other hand, has strayed since, dabbling in acclaimable synth-y soul and experimental sounds on 2019’s Jaime, and now in even more varieties on new album What Now.
The moment that avant-garde jazz howling session Earth Sign crumbles into the vintage soul balladry of I Don’t is the album’s first itch-scratcher.Immense passion is supplied by Howard on I Don’t, making sure to stay faithful to a genre she clearly loves by melding her quirkier vocal habits with the classic dexterity of a Tammi Terrell, whilst producer Shawn Everett continues to prove his worth with throwback gloss, throwback guitar licks, and well-arranged dynamics that wouldn’t feel out of place on What’s Going On.
Despite her overlapping stylistic preferences, Brittany does like to load her bag with soul. To Be Still is a guitar ballad that continues to hug audiences with the same vocal melding that inhabits I Don’t, now with a shiny falsetto and setup reminiscent of Kara Jackson’s Why Does the Earth Give Us People to Love, comparable to Every Colour In Blue. While Samson contains the same leanings, particularly vocally, its background is jazzier – think the music nerd-approved equivalent of an old school dabbler, like Etta James. It proves her soulfulness even as its texture alters, similarly to Patience, part-The Mamas & the Papas, part-psych-funk freak-fest.
Boy, do those freakier arrangements hit hard? Everett sprinkles gunk into his low-ends, giving so many tracks an acidic, juicy synth bass aesthetic, complementing Howard’s alien-like demeanour on Another Day, complete with excitable harmonies that bring Funkadelic to the 2020s. The Jamiroquai-esque What Now lathers itself in sick, slick funkiness that struts as Brittany’s voice does, linking the arms of pure psychedelia with indietronica and technologically-advanced funk. It’s another top production job too, as is Red Flags, with a bassline obtuse yet subtle in its movements; even in its consistency, it feels like it’s segueing into something far more warped, particularly as it glitches out after the two-minute mark.
Even in her collection of left turns, there is a left turn that still feels like a left turn considering all the left turns, giving new value to the term “left turn” no matter how many times it’s repeated in one sentence. Its name is Prove It To You, and it rocks the house with a stepping rhythm that soon grooves with the good time wobbles of deep house, including a main synth line that unlocks the romanticism of a lit-up city street in the early hours of the morning.
There is great value in not knowing what’s coming next whilst listening to new music. That isn’t to say there isn’t a clear personality to Brittany Howard – or What Now at large – but she consistently merges her bright, soulful personality with multiple sounds, genres, and methods of expression, remaining unpredictable, remaining great.
Best tracks – I Don’t – What Now – Prove It To You.
Rating – 8 out of 10
PEANUTBUTTERPOPE 