SUNDAY SPINS: "WHAT NOW" BY BRITTANY HOWARD

          Brittany Howard has maintained a relatively low profile since Alabama Shakes dissolved into darkness. She did released a collaborative, elusive garage punk album that stays in constant rotation in my living room, and in 2019, her solo debut album, “Jaime”. A musical reflection from sweltering prejudicial summers in Alabama to the tipping point, and gilded snowfall of stardom. This new album, released Friday, was written after the reconciliation of her history, in the wake of her divorce from her partner, most likely, avoiding that honest look in the mirror. Howard like so many of us is asking, “What Now”?

          I feel like in music as of late, we’ve seen this sort of "Returned to Nature", seeking out answers to who we are, what we’ve lived through, and what everything means. Is it truly written in the sun and the stars? Or in the meadows and forests? What idealisms and simplicities do we choose to protect and cherish and what do we distrust? And in the end, do we distrust ourselves? I’m talking to you (& me), Earth Signs (the name of the “What Now” album opener). “There’s a love, Waiting for me, I can feel, I can’t see, But will I know when I feel it?”

          The breeze of “I Don’t” demonstrates the virtue of freedom to drift from activator to experimenter for Howard, with her Auto-Tuned chorus. In this song, it’s like the valleys and hills of different scraggly wildflowers from the album cover, you can begin to see the meticulous layers of the journey. “Does anyone remember What it felt like to laugh all night”. The album namesake, “What Now” seems like a nod to Alabama Shakes’ 2 Grammy wins for their single, “Don’t Wanna Fight”. Like a wash of remembrance, Howard’s vocals are as they once were in AS, an unapologetic powerhouse marred, and well-versed in ache.

          As the record spins, you will find these sensational pops of synth, and house music woven within the album. First appearing on Side A, “Red Flags”. This is where the best lyrics of this album are written: “The best time that I’ve ever had That’s when the worst time started”. And with that, it’s time to flip the record over for Side B, and there is an interlude (sigh).Interludes serve to cleanse your palate, and because they are rarely executed well, ultimately, makes them unnecessary ... like on “What Now”. In “Another Day”, there is a real sense of presence and authenticity that listeners receive on “What Now”. Alabama Shakes - in all its greatness - could not give that & we never got that from the ancestral album, “Jaime”.

          And because of Howard’s dedication to experimenting, we get the second appearance of these house tracks in “Prove It To You”. This blooming discotheque sound covers understated lyrics that slyly sneak into the henhouse. Like in the next song, “Samson”, “I’m living in the future I’m trying to avoid you”. “Patience”, should have been cut along with the Interlude. I would rather have a short well-rounded album filled with banger after banger than wishing I could skip tracks. “Power to Undo” has this glitchy and agitated feel with the start and stop structures that makes melting, “Every Color in Blue” as the album closer organic. 

          As the record needle lifts and the turntable slows, Howard has delivered another compelling calamity of introspection and authenticity. The range she has developed within this album is dazzling and hopefully, is not just a glimpse of brilliance. As you can probably assume, I enjoyed “What Now” far more than “Jaime”, and I hope this album is Howard finding her footing as a solo artist.