Oklahoma-raised
Washington-based producer and singer-songwriter Bartees Strange debuted with
the mini-album Say Goodbye to Pretty Boy (2020), a set of nine covers
of The National songs.
Live Forever (Memory Music, 2020), produced by Will Yip,
dabbles in many styles, from
the dilated ballad Jealousy
to the noisy (but tuneless) rocking single Mustang;
from the thundering horn-laced soul-rock of In a Cab (a standout)
to Boomer's hybrid of trap beat and grunge riff;
from the ghostly electronic ballad Flagey God (another standout)
to the romantic electronic litany of Ghostly.
Kelly Rowland does not amount to much in its attempt to fuse
neosoul and hip-hop, but
the explosive crescendo of Far
is a creative update of the stereotype of the singer-songwriter of the 1970s.
The slickly produced Farm to Table (2022) was a disappointing follow-up on which the collision of those disparate genres yielded mostly confusing,
faceless and sometimes embarrassing songs.
At the two opposite extremes, it boasts the
a-cappella gospel-soul hymn Hennessy and the
trap-rock Cosigns.
A truly uninspired collection.
Hold the Line is supposed to be a touching elegy but sounds like
Bruce Springsteen at his most whining worst.