Jessy Wilson - Phase
Release date: Friday, May 3rd 2019For more information: www.bertus.com
Years before she toured the world alongside Alicia Keys, wrote songs with John Legend, belted the Southern rhythm and blues with Muddy Magnolias and kicked off a solo career with 2019’s Phase, Jessy Wilson grew up in Brooklyn, listening to the diverse sounds that filled her family’s apartment. Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Curtis Mayfield were on the stereo. Lauryn Hill, Jay-Z and Biggie were on the radio.It was a mix of melody and movement, of soul and hip-hop. When Wilson moved to Nashville years later, she absorbed the sounds of the South, too, widening her internal soundtrack with the hard-hitting bang of rock & roll, blues and roots music. For Wilson — a Grammy-nominated songwriter whose past includes musical theater, international tours as an R&B backup singer, and songwriting collaborations with everyone from Usher and Kanye West to Faith Hill and Macy Gray— it made sense that such a wide range of music would be compelling. Written and recorded with producer Patrick Carney — drummer for the Black Keys, as well as the driving force behind that band’s percussive stomp —
Phase brews up its own storm of soulful sound. It’s a modern album rooted in everything that made the old stuff good: the R&B melodies of the late 1960s and ’70s; the pulsating grooves of hip-hop; the urban commentary and subtlety of Curtis Mayfield; fuzz guitar inspired by the crème de la crème of psychedelic rock; the irresistible, genre-bending of artists like The Beatles. Gritty and progressive, Phase reintroduces Jessy Wilson as we’ve never heard her before: undiluted, unaccompanied and unleashed. Wilson and Carney co-wrote much of the album in the studio, often bouncing between three songs at once. Whenever they weren’t making music together, they were sharing recommendations, geeking out over Tina Turner b-sides, Wu-Tang Clan classics, and Gloria Ann Taylor deep cuts. They worked like that for 40 days, only soliciting the involvement of five other people: Grammy-winning mixer Tchad Blake; guitar player Delicate Steve; a cellist; an engineer; and James McFarlin, Wilson’s boyfriend and lyrical collaborator.
- Tracklist: 1. Oh, Baby! 03:47 2. Love & Sophistication 03:18 3. Clap Your Hands 03:23 4. Waiting On... 04:18 5. Stay Cool 03:43 6. Moving Through Your Mind 03:44 7. Love Me 03:16 8. Cool One 02:42 9. Cold In The South 03:46 10. What's Wrong? 03:27 11. LA Night 04:49 https://www.jessy-wilson.com/
