Wednesday, March 03, 2010

What to Say

well it figures that i wouldn't know what to say
i'm usually better off when the words stay in my head anyway
the consonants get jumbled on my lips and fall to shore
and the vowels all slip and stumble to make it past my tongues report

yeah sometimes it's better to say nothing at all


The debut full length What To Say, from Daphne Willis, has got a few things going for it that have caused it to be in my ears fairly consistently the last month or so. I'll be honest with you, it took a few listens for it really to firmly root in my head, but since it has, it's been a go-to album for me. At 22, Willis is just beginning to come into her own, and this album feels like a great start for her. Her voice, which has really hooked me, seems a mix between the soulfulness of Grace Potter and the sunniness of Tristan Prettyman, both singers that I enjoy immensely, and her lyrics contain a complexity, as you can see from the ones above. In terms of the instruments behind her, although Willis hails from Chicago, her band has got a whole heapin' of Memphis in them that grooves deliciously. Check out the title track below which the above lyrics come from, and then listen to her cover of the classic Aretha Franklin song Think that funks up the original a little bit.





and an older one:



Visit her website, her label Vanguard Records, and become her friend on MySpace.

1 comment:

Jane said...

I'm on the fence about her voice, but I love the big band/brass sound behind her. I'll have to give it another closer listen later.
And spring is coming at long last, so this really hits the spot. Chases the winter blahs away. Thanks.