The retro influences behind Yola’s debut LP, Walk Through Fire, are easy to spot: The Everly Brothers, Dolly Parton, Mavis Staples’ folkier side, late-’60s West Coast pop. But that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable or their fusion any less masterful. Producer Dan Auerbach and the British singer-songwriter, who previously sang backup for other artists (and briefly in Massive Attack), breathe fresh air into these well-worn sounds by rooting Yola’s songs in plainspoken emotional honesty and by enlisting a murderers’ row of Nashville players to bring them to life. Mavis’ influence can especially be heard on the Dan Penn-assisted title track, while the Joe Allen co-written “Ride Out In The Country” is a swooning dirt-road reverie in a more modern country-pop style. Above all, don’t miss “Love All Night (Work All Day),” which hits the highway west for Nutbush city limits. And good luck finding songs with this much soul on mainstream country radio. [Kelsey J. Waite]
Marissa Nadler’s music, from its shadowy melodies to the singer’s spectral vocals, exudes an air of gothic romance better than just about any modern artist. Every song feels sepia-toned, as if it’s spilling from a cracked, fading photograph in your grandmother’s attic. That’s certainly the case for “Poison,” a sweeping ballad that serves as a digestif of sorts for last year’s lovely For My Crimes. The Velvet Underground’s John Cale joins Nadler for the single, his own weathered voice braiding beautifully with hers before fluttering off in a splash of moonlight. It’s sunny on the single’s B-side, “If We Make It Through The Summer,” but Nadler’s yearning still radiates from the track’s melodic chorus and propulsive percussion. Sunny or not, her songs have a way of chilling the soul. [Randall Colburn]
