While our live music reviews are taking a back seat here at The House That Soul Built, we are being inundated with lots of great new music. Read a Lockdown Round-Up of recent soul music releases below!
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Whitney McClain – ‘Good With Pain’
Hailing from Willamette Valley, Oregon, Whitney McClain first arrived on the scene with debut single (and ear worm) ‘Bombs Away‘ back in 2015, racking over a million views on YouTube. A self-described ‘old soul at heart‘, McClain is back with new single ‘Good With Pain’. Produced by London-bred team Da Beatfreakz, the song follows a similar formula to McClain’s previous releases – a catchy pop melody, R&B cadences, retro flourishes, and strong vocals. ‘”Good With Pain” was inspired by a couple of past relationships I had been in. It was a constant theme for me to stay in a toxic relationship because either I believed I was in love so much that I would do anything to make the relationship last or I was strong enough to take the pain,’ McClain says. ‘I’m good with pain / Boy hurt me as much as you want / I have no shame / Guess I’m just a sucker for love,’ she sings frankly about her tendency to cling onto doomed relationships. She belts out the chorus at the song’s climax.
Lianne La Havas – ‘Paper Thin’
Lianne La Havas premiered ‘Paper Thin’, taken from her upcoming third album, at her fantastic concert at the Barbican Hall last February. An understated, guitar-driven piece, ‘Paper Thin’ sees La Havas offering love and support to someone close to her, encouraging them to firstly love themselves and allow others in. ‘So let me love you / I just wanna love you,’ she coos gently. The address shifts inwards briefly as La Havas sings about her own insecurities too. Another promising release. La Havas’ eponymous third album will be released this coming July.
Steve Ray Ladson – ‘Calling Your Name’
Multi-instrumentalist Steve Ray Ladson is currently touring with gospel group The Blind Boys Of Alabama, as well as playing bass with funk outfit Robert Randolph and the Family Band. Eager to pursue a solo recording career, Ladson’s debut album Souled Out arrives this coming June. About latest single ‘Calling Your Name’, he says: ‘This song was inspired and created down in Muscle Shoals, Alabama one evening after a recording session at a friends home around the table where writing sessions are a norm. I picked up the guitar and began to play and sing, “I’ve had my share of loves ups and downs, I once was lost but now I’m found.” I played the song and sang the lyrics then a good friend of mine, Noah Shell, added to the selection with his touching second verse quoting, “I used to lay awake and wonder, if I’d ever find another,“‘ he explains. A tightly written tune, clocking in at just under three minutes, ‘Calling Your Name’ is a throwback R&B ballad but avoids being overly generic, lifted by the somewhat country-tinged guitar work and Ladson’s vocals, which shine particularly as he scoops low.
Mallika Vie – ‘Since My Baby Said Goodbye / Bluebells Still Grow’
Mallika Vie caught our attention with her 1960s-inspired ballad ‘Be Still For Me’. Her latest release is a two-parter tracking her journey from heartbreak to recovery. Compared to the more conventional structure of ‘Be Still For Me’, ‘Since My Baby Said Goodbye / Bluebells Still Grow’ is a more abstract, meandering piece with electronic and synthy touches. Vie’s crying soprano notes at the climax of ‘Since My Baby Said Goodbye’ are heart-rending. However, the melancholy is tempered by the brightness and optimistic undercurrents of ‘Bluebells Still Grow’. ‘”Since My Baby Said Goodbye (Pt. 1)” and “Bluebells Still Grow (Reprise)” are grounded in timeless soul, of course; “but I’ve gently let go of using my musical heroes as training wheels,” Vie says. “This is a story of my own heartbreak, my own recovery, and my own sound.”
