Sometimes when an album surfaces from the to-be-reviewed stack I have to remind myself how it ended up there in the first place. <\/p>\n
In this case the answer is, because Tal Wilkenfeld makes an impression. Like many, I first encountered her while watching Jeff Beck\u2019s Live From Ronnie Scott <\/i>DVD\u2014a young woman with a massive mane of dirty-blond curls playing world-class bass, standing shoulder to shoulder with one of the greatest guitar players ever. Her tremendous skills and arresting stage presence also left me curious about what sort of music someone like that\u2014who\u2019s been a supporting player in the band of an artist as eclectic as Beck\u2014might choose to make as a bandleader.<\/p>\n
This album makes clear that Wilkenfeld and Beck were kindred spirits on multiple levels; as with a typical Beck album, Love Remains<\/i> ranges far and wide tonally and stylistically, with the principal common thread being that each individual piece is rendered with intensity and artistry. Coproduced by Paul Stacey and Wilkenfeld, with Jackson Browne serving as executive producer, the album benefits from the talents of a core band of ace players: Blake Mills (Bob Dylan, The Killers, Daisy Jones & The Six) on guitar, Jeremy Stacey (everyone from Sheryl Crow to King Crimson) on drums, and Zac Rae (Death Cab For Cutie, Alanis Morissette) on keys. Notable guests include Benmont Tench (keys), Michael Landau (dobro) and co-writer of three tracks here Sonya Kitchell (background vocals).<\/p>\n
Opening track \u201cCorner Painter\u201d was initially released as a single in 2016 and features a big rumbly acoustic-and-electric sound with dramatic vocals, an appropriately dire feel for a song about getting strung along by a married man. \u201cCounterfeit\u201d continues the downbeat lyrical mood while taking on a drastically different sound: a big, burbling bass line under acoustic guitar, lending the song\u2014which may or may not be about a post-breakup breakdown\u2014a dreamy, floating feel. <\/p>\n
\u201cHard To Be Alone\u201d is where Wilkenfeld really stretches things out, a heavy-duty blues-rock number that finds her channeling her inner Robert Plant; it\u2019s spacious, thunderous and riveting. And then, like the hardest jump cut from the last action movie you watched, \u201cHaunted Love\u201d transports us from the arena floor to a smoky little club where Wilkenfeld presents a folk-jazz tune solo over her bass\u2026 and it works. One minute she\u2019s Janis wailing like a banshee, the next she\u2019s Rickie Lee in sultry r&b mode, punctuated with a lyrical bass solo.<\/p>\n
Venturing forward from there you\u2019ll discover lilting folk-rock (the Sarah Maclachlan-esque title track), punchy power-pop (\u201cFistful Of Glass\u201d), atmospheric prog-pop (the Peter Gabriel-adjacent \u201cUnder The Sun\u201d), and orchestral folk (\u201cOne Thing After Another\u201d adds strings and flute in support of one of Wilkenfeld\u2019s prettiest vocals).<\/p>\n
\u201cKilling Me\u201d is more along the lines of what I had anticipated, an energetic tune that leans on its prominent, dynamic bass line, reminding at least this one listener of indie folk-rocker Jill Knight. Love Remains<\/i> closes out with the tart acoustic will-they-or-won\u2019t-they-break-up ballad \u201cPieces Of Me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tal Wilkenfeld is a world class bass player, a dynamic performer, and a budding singer-songwriter. Her lyrics feel like a work in progress at times, but show promise, even as her voice proves to be every bit as powerful as her bass lines. Love Remains<\/i> is a showcase for a terrific musician and performer who\u2019s now finding her way a singer-songwriter as well. That\u2019s an exciting place to be and I\u2019m eager to hear what comes next.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":34912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10908],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-46779","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-tal-wilkenfeld","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46779\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46779"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}