Description
Label Review.
2018 album also available in CD.
Our Overview.
Natalie Prass had her new album written, her band ready, the recording studio booked. Then the 2016 election happened and out of her despair and disappointment in those results came an impulse she could not ignore: she rewrote the album to reflect these swirling emotions. The result is ‘The Future And The Past’, a stunning snapshot of a musician in a state of personal rediscovery and surging femininity.
The celebratory and defiant ‘The Future And The Past’ also signals a significant artistic leap for Prass on the heels of her 2015 breakthrough debut album. It finds Prass tapping into deep, dancey grooves that glisten with 80s pop and 90s R&B, nestled alongside quivering, lushly orchestrated ballads.
Like her debut album, Prass made ‘The Future And The Past’ in Richmond, VA with long time friend and collaborator Matthew E. White at his Spacebomb Studios. She added some new collaborations to the mix as well: Blue (Solange’s ‘A Seat At The Table,’ Blood Orange, Carly Rae Jepsen) and Michael Brauer (Elle King and James Bay). ‘Future’ is ripe with string orchestrations and piano flourishes, snaking synth lines and fuzzed out guitars.
The Future And The Past’ is bursting with myriad grooves and Natalie’s vocals float on top, light as a feather and tough as nails. ‘Short Court Style’ dials the tempo into 90s R&B territory - punctuated by handclaps, sampled ‘woo’s and a Dr. Dre-esque whistling synth line. Lyrically she wields a sharp knife as well.
Natalie’s 2015 self-titled debut earned a perfect 5/5 from The Guardian, 9/10 from The Line of Best Fit, CoS, Drowned in Sound, raves from Rolling Stone, Pitchfork (Best New Music). She toured with Fleet Foxes and War On Drugs and appeared on HBO’s ‘Vinyl’ (as Karen Carpenter), Jools Holland and CBS Saturday.
“This is disco-funk as fluffy as a Pomeranian after a blow-dry - reminiscent of Feist, and, further back, the kind of singer found on the brilliant Ladies of Too Slow to Disco compilation: Carly Simon, Laura Allan and the rest. Will have you clicking your heels amid the bleak midwinter.” - The Guardian