In her new album, ‘What Now’, Brittany Howard creates a world of her own. The journey of spirit and soul begins with ‘Earth Sign’, an introduction to the bright, psychedelic dance floor of the album that is to follow. Howard sings that there is a love waiting for her. The opening track evokes an image of running across the landscapes of the album cover, dressed, as Howard is, in luminous clothes.
On ‘I Don’t’, Howard relinquishes control and is filled with the desire to be moved by the experience, she no longer wants to be tethered to the past. The titular track is a condensing of all the thoughts of a breakup, singing ‘I don’t want to wonder what our love is’ and ‘I’ve been asking questions you don’t wanna know.’ It is gut-wrenchingly honest. In the unabashed and unapologetic motion of moving forward, Howard almost screams in the climax of the chorus, ‘If you want someone to hate then blame it on me.’
On the following tracks, Howard returns to the soulful, introspective sounds that developed and experimented with on her 2019 debut solo album ‘Jamie’. ‘Red Flags’ is drenched in lush vocals, demonstrating the range of Howard’s vocal talent. ‘To Be Still’ commands the listener to stop and pay attention, the ringing chimes in the background creating a transportive experience. It is in these songs we are shown the creative blossoming of Howard during lockdown. In the rest of the album, we listen as Howard grapples with the weight and breadth of her feelings: heartbreak, falling in love with someone new, the isolation of lockdown, and the anger and frustration of the political climate of America in the last five years.
Throughout the album, there is a refrain of chimes and experimental rock sounds. Many songs fade with this ringing, they’re like the musical equivalent of a fade to black. These sounds alone can become nauseating, but they mirror the repetitive nature of lockdown, of not knowing what the day or date is. They effectively bring together and mesh all the varying and at times contradicting emotion of the album.
Over the course of the album’s 39 minutes, Brittany Howard demonstrates her magnificent ability to craft a world within each song. On ‘Prove It To You’, we are sent to the dance floor, getting lost in the present moment of neon lights and sweating bodies. It is a song that hopes for an answer. Howard wants to know if she can prove herself. The song takes the hand of the listener to dance and wishes to show you that she is. This is immediately contrasted by the slow drums and swaying beat of ‘Samson’, where a listener floats in the sounds, searching, as Howard does, for direction.
On ‘What Now’, Brittany Howard pushes the genre to the extreme in order to find a clear expression of the emotion she is feeling. What is achieved is a joyous, thrilling journey of moving on and being present in life, of the pain and struggle of leaving broken love behind. Howard bares her soul and allows her soul to change, no longer dwelling on the past and reclaiming the power that she had once lost or given away.
8/10