Three Superb Albums by Amazing Women for your Weekend
Lianne La Havas, In These Trees and Tartie, and Baby Rose with BADBADNOTGOOD
After Taylor Swift’s historic Instagram post this week, it seemed like a good time to celebrate some great musical women who are making awesome records (as if we needed an excuse).
Lianne La Havas: Lianne La Havas
I missed this record when it appeared in 2020, but ever since I discovered it a few weeks ago, I've listened to it almost every day. While you might categorize the album as neo-soul, this would be reductive. Lianne sings her heart out throughout, and she matches these vocal performances with her sensitive and elegant guitar-playing and in-the-pocket grooves. And she has serious songwriting chops: check out, for example, the memorable refrain of “Can’t Fight,” the melodic tension of “Bittersweet,” and the enticing acoustic-guitar opening riff of “Seven Times” (after which, we overhear Lianne say, approvingly, “yeah, that’s a good intro”). When a cover song does appear, it is both unexpected and masterful: Radiohead's "Weird Fishes." I'm a major Radiohead fan, but I think this version is even better than the original. It seems as though the song was meant for Lianne's breathy, passionate delivery. Gorgeous.
Lianne La Havas on Apple Music
In These Trees and Tartie: The Quiver
In These Trees is the musical project of longtime DJ Binnie Klein (the sister of the wonderful
), and for this initial album she is joined by singer-songwriter Tartie. The combination of Tartie's dream-pop melodic sensibilities with Klein's sensitive lyricism makes for an intimate, atmospheric listen. The blurb for the record on Bandcamp describes the project like this:The album is akin to a book of ten linked short stories, and explores memory, love, heartbreak, ecological grief, and hope. The music is by turns mystical, emotional, and uplifting; creating elegant soundscapes of piano and strings that nestle intriguing melodies, achingly expressive vocals, and lyrical guitar work.
This seems right to me. The blurb goes on to compare the album to work by Kate Bush and London Grammar, both of which are apt; I would add that I'm sometimes reminded of the piano-driven singer-songwriter mode of Tori Amos. The pervading tone is a kind of expansive melancholy that avoids navel-gazing through its connection between personal sorrow and ecology: "Came back next spring / Stripped the branches clean / Earth there for you to devour and protect / You come off gentle, wind up mean."
While the record stays fairly quiet, the rhythm section is finally unleashed in the seventh track, "One Through Ten," to powerful effect, which is magnified by the pervasive musical restraint to this point. Other highlights include the opening song, "Orchard," the title track ("Quiver"), and the uplifting closer, "Shapes of the Things to Come."
(NB: This album is not available on Apple Music.)
Baby Rose and BADBADNOTGOOD: Slow Burn
This EP clocks in at a concise twenty-four minutes, and it leaves you wanting more. It as if Ronnie Spector has come back to life, and 1960s Motown and Stax Records have been retooled with modern production techniques. I'll say no more; that should be enough to get you to listen.
Thanks for reading, from my fancy internet record player to yours.
Thanks for the recommendations John! I’d like to suggest Willow’s Empathogen album which is pretty astonishing stuff from someone who really didn’t need to be this good to succeed.
Well, now I know what I will be listening to this weekend. Thanks John!