Leon Bridges – Coming Home
Columbia Recordings
Leon Bridges is a young Fort Worth native resurrecting the soul of the past. His charming voice and technique channels a spirit reminiscent of ballroom dances and chivalrous love. A common trait among modern artists like Haim and Wolf Alice, style revival is gaining traction as a “new” wave of music. Coming Home is aptly named, as though this album is an homage to great influentials such as Arethra Franklin, Rey Charles, Sam Cooke and Ella Fitzgerald.
The first song is a wonderful introduction and has an amazing rhythm. He sings of desiring one girl, wholly devoted to winning her, “Baby, baby, babe. I’m coming home, to your tender sweet lovin’, you’re my one and only one.” Daydreamy guitar rings softly behind a chorus of voices softly humming as drums and cymbals shake in tune. Leon reverbs more in Better Man with female doo-wops guided by the pace of organs.
Smooth Sailin’ definitely shines as retro soul. This is where the past meets the present. Trumpets and electric guitar speak to each other with hymn and vitality. It’s great to see themes marked by the 50’s and 60’s brought back to life. Flowers is mildly suggestive and embodies the subtle sexuality and freedom fed through music back when these themes were still taboo to talk about openly. “So wont you come. So you wont come, baby. So wont you come. So wont you come, baby. Maken planes for tomorrow, even though you don’t know your fate.” It’s part of culture to represent change through it’s art, whether it instigates a movement or carries it, it’s part of a broader social awakening.
Coming Home is enlivening for the mind, meant for sunny days and wind blown dresses twirling to soothing lyrical lullabies. Sit back, relax, and let your thoughts wander. As a whole, the album revisits the best qualities of the soul movement. It’s the perfect pause for modern musics hectic growth.