Qobuzissime

Was soul music better before? No!" answers Aaron Frazer's debut album. Spotted as the drummer and co-singer of Durand Jones & the Indications, this young soul brother from Baltimore, now living in Brooklyn, launches his solo career with Introducing..., an impeccable opus with a vintage flavour, produced by the legendary Dan Auerbach. In Nashville's Easy Eye Sound Studio, home to the Black Keys, Frazer's celestial falsetto, influenced by Smokey Robinson and Curtis Mayfield, resounds to perfection. Both conscious and amorous, like all the great fifties and sixties soul singers, he juggles pure love songs and politically charged numbers with ease. His soft voice is a divine whisper, modern and ageless at the same time. A trans-generational cast supports Frazer, ranging from old hands like the Memphis Boys (who made their mark on Dusty Springfield's Son of A Preacher Man and Aretha Franklin's (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman) to the youngest virtuosos of the Daptone label - Big Crown Records... Gospel, doo-wop, funk and Northern Soul (Over You and its addictive up-tempo beat), Frazer even conjures up the ghosts of Marvin Gaye and Gil Scott-Heron on the smooth and funky Bad News. He knows and masters his classics, but his magnificent Introducing... is still very much an album from 2021, not 1961. Like his contemporaries Mayer Hawthorne and Curtis Harding, Aaron Frazer transposes his passion for vintage music into his time. He knows that the beauty of soul is that it cries with you, rejoices with you, makes you want to dance and can also make you think consciously and socially, whether it's 1961 or 2021! © Marc Zisman/Qobuz

Having exhausted every angle in pop and rock over the past few years, the country scene seems to have finally decided to return to its roots. Margo Price is another name to add to a list alongside the likes of Kacey Musgraves and Sturgill Simpson, among others. A native of Aledo, Illinois, the young damsel has already been lucky enough to be hand picked by a certain Jack White to sign with his label, Third Man Records. Being in favour with the former leader of the White Stripes will bring her some extra spotlight she most certainly deserves... This first solo album however, is by no means the 32-year-old singers first venture in music. She landed in Nashville after finishing high school in 2003, where she met her future husband, bassist Jeremy Ivey. The couple when on to form the (somewhat) obscure Buffalo Clover Group. Three self-produced later albums, and a tsunami of misfortunes which included (the death of her son, time spent in prison, problems with alcohol, anxiety and depression, among others), Margo Price advanced alone with this disc put together in the Mecca of rock music, the legendary Sun studios. To the listener, Midwest Farmer's Daughter – an obvious nod to Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn – sees price walk in the footsteps of the great ladies of the eternal country. Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Tanya Tucker… Musically, the approach is quite purist and reminiscent of the glorious country of the seventies. Some honkytonk, rockabilly, and blues twang - Margo Price sings her songs with conviction and sincerity. A truly beautiful album, and a worth Qobuzism! © Marc Zisman/Qobuz