What does it sound like?:
Ah, the dilemma of presenting new soul* to the Afterword: if it’s too adventurous or too zeitgeisty then you’re all “Take that away Mack, it’s wick-wick-wack”; If it’s too wholemeal ale traditional, then it’s “Yawn, we’ve heard it all done better before”.
This, Danielle Ponder’s debut, had a lengthy gestation while she adjusted to turning professional having spent several years gaining a reputation as a singer while working full time as a public defender and advocate in the courts of Rochester, New York.
It’s true, the arrangements do occasionally betray the fact that trip hop has been around for thirty years and some of the songs meander a little, but there’s not much here that’s going to frighten the horses and Danielle is not from the seven-notes-per-syllable singing school.
Instead, Some Of Us Are Brave (the title comes from a black women’s studies book All The Women Are White, All The Blacks Are Men, But Some Of Us Are Brave) is a collection of slow songs which are both musically and thematically from the familiar tradition of the emotional trials (SWIDT?) of the soulstress, mostly co-written with her keyboard player Avis Reese (her touring band is called The Tomorrow People, which is no doubt intended to aspire to a fairer future, but I like to think reveals a childhood spent pretending to “juant” in the manner of the old ITV show).
And, for the most part, the playing is that of a classic soul band, although leaning towards a more contemporary production rather than the fetishistic oldschool sounds of, say, Daptone productions.
It’s really only in the first and last songs that her activist secret identity informs her words.
The Only Way Out, credited to producer Dave Drago is the nearest thing to an old soul standard, as our heroine comes to realise that sometimes a broken heart is the only way out of a destructive relationship. Someone Like You has one of those barnstorming pipeclearing choruses people like. In contrast, my favourite Fray unfurls slowly over a lovely melody reflecting its narrator who is trying to emergence from a “desperate existence” and wonders if she can “heal enough to feel your love”.
SOUAB was first released (and, I think it’s fair to say, largely missed) at the tail end of 2022.
I first came across Ms Ponder and her band last year on a live session for the always reliable KEXP. Since then the original 8 track just-shy-of 30 minutes album was re-released as a deluxe edition with five extra tracks, three of them live. It was one of the records I played most last year and I did consider knocking out a review of the deluxe version at the time, but it took a shove from Mr Junior Wells to push me over.
*I suppose you could say the same about any genre, but I feel this division most keenly with soul music..
What does it all *mean*?
It means Junes is a very persuasive fellow and my arm has been thoroughly twisted
Goes well with…
.
Release Date:
September 2022/2023
Might suit people who like…
Gladys Knight, Ann Peebles, Bette Smith… you can do your own list..
(The Only Way Out, from that KEXP session)
That’s very good. Will have an investigate.
Apparently the Bandcamp link didn’t copy in the review, so encore une fois:
https://danielleponder.bandcamp.com/album/some-of-us-are-brave-2
Brave man Sewer. I tried reviewing one or two artists of this kind here a long time ago. Terrible waste of typing. Even the tumbleweed stayed clear.
On I don’t know. Sault seem well liked and Gabriels did okay in the annual poll considering the way their album was released over two years. I’d like to see people discussing Cleo Sol a bit more.
OK we’ll try and discuss her over dinner. We’ve all got to do our bit.
She’s great, isn’t she. 😃
A lesson for me in It’s The Singer Not The Song. Don’t bother making any recommendations if you’re Not The Right Person.
I remember the response that greeted my initial assessment of Katie Spencer: total and utter indifference A popular Afterworder later took up her cause and there was immediate “Oh thank you so much, we would never have heard of her” etc
…not that I’m bitter
…much…
…what bastard said that??
Who’s Katie Spencer?
Oooooo….
@Moose-the-Mooche, I can’t find your initial assessment by searching for “Katie Spencer”. What did you title it?
I didn’t do a review, it was in some thread. Blogger Takeover? No idea. Maybe I dreamt it.
Sad…I was going to belatedly follow it up…
I’d seen her supporting Ralph McTell, who we only went to see because some friends had tickets they couldn’t use. I was very impressed with the Ralphster, who was a lot bluesier than I was expecting.
Katie did a sparkling little set and struck me as someone with a future. This was just before her first album came out. The one she did next disappointed me as I found it too derivative of Joni. Other opinions etc
Joni not the person I would compare her too, more a female amalgam of Michael Chapman and Nick Drake, with a dollop of John Martyn in the mix too, for good measure. Solo live has the edge, so far, over recorded.
Is she related to Dan Ponder, who, if I recall correctly, was the musical director/bandleader on Alan Patridge’s short lived chat show, Aha?
(Yes, I listened to her. All a bit deriv, I thought, but thanks for the tip.)
Glenn though not Dan.
The mnemonic is that, as was pointed out, his name is an anagram of Porn Legend.
Well, I think it’s great and thank @sewer-robot for brining it to my attention. I’ve been on a soul journey for the last couple of days after seeing RAYE on Hootenanny and DP fits in just fine with her and Sault.