Style: Minimalist R&B; compare to Roberta Flack, Nina Simone
Top Tracks: “I Don’t Believe,” “Who Will Take Care,” “Trees”
The past decade has seen Liz Janes exploring raucous blues as a member of Old Time Relijun, and unhinged jazz as a solo artist (see her incredible 2005 collaboration with the L.A. band Create). The latest album by this chameleonic singer finds her embracing her inner soulstress, working with producer Rafter Roberts to create an album that connects her to icons like Roberta Flack and Janis Ian. And like those artists, Janes’ songs explore deeper wells than your average soul singer, searching her deepest parts for purpose and direction. And the answer, as she sings on one of the album’s best songs “Who Will Take Care”: “My only hope now in a mystery / Is a merciful benevolent deity.”
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