As with all the artists I profile in GREAT SPIRITS, it is a great moment when you hear some music that stops you in your tracks. I call it a "pull over to the side of the road" moment...recalling all those moments when driving that I heard something electrifying on the radio and just had to pull over to the side of the road to listen...hoping to catch the name of the artist or tune. These moments are less frequent these days but they still happen. My most recent such moment came when someone e-mailed me an MP3 of a song called "Reset To Zero" by a UK singer named Anthoney Wright. What grabbed me initially was his voice--it is a classic soul voice, that reached out, grabbed you, demanded attention. And the song builds into the kind of hook-y, memorable chorus that used to be a staple of pop/r & b songwriting, before songwriting became defined by "beats." Anthoney's voice is not a dead ringer for anyone in particular but would have fit right in the Stax or Hi Records rosters. I'm not going to tell you that he's the second coming of Al Green; back in the day he would have been just one of a few dozen--if not a couple hundred--good soul singers who, given the right song, could put it across with conviction and style. The sad fact is that these days he's one of a relative handful; not a lot of singers coming on the r & b scene today have even this much voice, this much distinctiveness or ability to phrase a vocal. So by default he's great, on a par with Anthony Hamilton, Leela James or Ledisi, say.
I managed to have an advance promo copy of his UK album sent to me and it only reinforces the impression that something special is going on. Not every song is great but you can tell that the songs, almost all written or co-written by Wright, are written by someone who knows how to write a song. About half of them are pretty damn good, an incredible batting average by today's standards. The production is not retro at all...it is minimalistic, vibey, and often cool, though for my money clunky and primitive in too many places...but you know folks like that nowadays, thanks to hip-hop. Even when someone is creating a whole track from scratch it often has a cut-and-paste feel as though created from many elements, including samples. For Anthoney Wright, that sound will help position him as current as opposed to retro. Think Amy Winehouse who on her breatkthrough album drew on uptown soul from the Sixties but with a current chopped-and-screwed sound. And I was sent a dance-re-mix of "Wud If I Could", the lead cut of the album. I'm not a fan of house-y remixes in general but I gotta say, this remix version sounds like a hit, if you like that sort of thing.
Inspired by the music, I went online, checked out his videos and a live-performance. The videos are cool, often quirky, staying away from current r & b video cliches for the most part. The live performance is Anthoney back by just an electric guitarist and percussionist...and he comes across strong in that stripped-down setting; a good sign! On top of that he's relatively young, I'd guess mid-twenties to early thirties, with dreadlocked good looks, and engaging as a performer. So watch out for Anthoney Wright, my tip for the day.
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