Classy vocals from Lisa Bouchelle are front and centre of a fine country soul collection, featuring Amanda Shires, with some unexpected twists.
It’s always a pleasure as a reviewer to discover a new top vocalist – and so it is with New Jersey singer-songwriter Lisa Bouchelle. When two tracks of her new album, Vandals, Thieves and Lovers were previewed earlier this summer on these pages, by Jonathan Aird, he praised her “vocals…of the hard to ignore type, with an impassioned intensity”; certainly true, a captivating blend of country soul and gospel, with both power and clarity, and very much to the fore on each of the release’s 14 tracks. Bouchelle plays acoustic guitar on the album, with a notable list of collaborators headed by Amanda Shires on violin, credited on five tracks, including the two openers, A Light To Come Home To, and Make This World Standstill. The former also features Larry Campbell on banjo and mandolin, with a positive message and it’s big anthemic chorus: “So be my light (Be my light)/ Be my light (Be my light)/ Be my light to come home to/ Somehow we’ll find a way/ To get back out there everyday/ All we need’s a light to come home to”.
On this track Bouchelle has a characterful catch in her voice, when pushed, while on Make This World Stand Still there are echoes of the country soul sound of Yola’s Walk Through Fire era, with Roy Orbison-esque melody and phrasing. On both openers, Shire’s violin is an always tasteful part of the blend.
Skeleton Krewe takes an unexpected swerve, a capella with Hal B. Selzer and Jim Salamoine joining Bouchelle on vocals, funky and soulful, with Shire’s violin part of a freak out instrumental break alongside synths and samples. And Bouchelle and her band get a real funk down on Wild Again with slap bass and funk guitar, and sax.
Buzzkill starts with kick drum and bass, before retro synth stabs kick in, with 60’s style Motown era backing vocals, Bouchelle singing “Sometimes it’s not worth it to try and try again/ If someone doesn’t dig your vibe, why try to be their friend?/ And I can’t please the masses, if I cannot please myself/ I can’t be who you think I should be, I’m too busy here trying to be myself!?/ Don’t be a buzz kill (keep it to yourself)/Don’t be a buzz kill/(take it somewhere else).”
Waddy Wachtel plays some mean guitar on Vandal, while Game to Play is an up tempo number, with a hooky chorus, featuring handclaps, “I’ve got a game to play/ when life gets in the way/ step out onto the field in a brand new day/ And say “Hey, Hey! I’ve got a game To play!/ “Oh,I’ve got a game to play.”
With other credited musicians including Clay Cook (Zac Brown Band), pedal steel virtuoso Doyle Grisham (Jimmy Buffett), drummer Rich Scannella (Tonic), fiddle player Tim Carbone (Railroad Earth) and bassist Hal B. Selzer (Joan Jett), production by Hal B. Selzer, Stephen DeAcutis and Bouchelle herself is top notch throughout.
This is a fine blend of country soul, funk and gospel with exceptional vocals from Bouchelle, and great musicianship throughout from her top notch band.
