Music Reviews
Artist:
Nicole Willis and The Soul InvestigatorsTitle:
If This Ain’t LoveLabel:
ATC RecordingsWebsite:
http://www.nicolewillis.com/
‘If This Ain’t Love’ is a pleasant reminder of the traditional meaning of soul, a musical label that, lumped in with the likes of R&B, hip-hop and urban grooves, seems to have lost touch with its original meaning. Its soul in the traditional sense of the word, the type perfected by the likes of Curtis Mayfield and Billie Holiday, the type that adorns the sound tracks of films like Jackie Brown.
The song builds through a bass heavy intro before the funk driven guitars kick in after about 30 seconds and the drums follow soon after. It has none of the over production that has blighted much neo-soul and instead retains a retro, slightly grainy edge. Willis’ hasn’t got the overpowering vocal force of say Aretha Franlin or Macy Grey which, far from representing a weakness, allows the music room to breathe and her earthy tone to draw you in.
The track originally appeared on the ‘Keep Reachin’ Up’ EP, famously described by I-D-J magazine as “the best album Motown never released,” which was finally made available here in July. It is also the second single to be released form the UK album ‘Feeling Free’ and bonus mixes by Mr Scruff and jazz outfit The Elizabeth Shepherd Trio serve as timely tasters of what to expect from the remix album due out in October.
As if often the case with Scruff appropriate labels are hard find but ‘ambient drum n’ bass’ and ‘nu-jazz’ are two terms that come to mind. In contrast The Elizabeth Shepherd Trio take on it all is a rather Latin tinged one.
‘If This Ain’t Love’ is released on September 24th.
