In art, time is a relative variable and zeitgeist is difficult to define. The last artist who is going to prove this thesis is young author from Texas, Leon Bridges, who is influenced by Otis Redding, Sam Cook, rockabilly, country and gospel.
Coming Home sounds like a time capsule transposed Bridges from 1965 to 2015. Bridges probably does not have a computer at home, he does not use a smartphone and he has an old camera. At least that’s what the sound of his record says about him. The sound cheats like a politician during the pre-election campaign. Bridges know which year is it so he used Spotify’s services and made himself popular in the first half of this year with the title song Coming Home. While Thom Yorke is bragging about Spotify, younger generations of musicians use Spotify in order to reach their audience.
Bridges does not hide his idols. Sometimes he follows them completely. He will rather be elegant than arrogant. He would rather walk the road that was walked before than take a risk. This approach has helped him to gain Grammy nominations for best r’n’b album.
34 minutes of Coming Home contains many moment that his grandparents would be very proud of. Especially on Coming Home and Better Man. Brown Skin Girl is so fucking sweet. Lisa Sawyer is an old school ballade while solid Flowers invites you to dance. Twist and Groovin is very cool, even though it is weirdly mixed with country.
Master piece ends the album. River is enriched with crystal vocals and the songs reaches the sky proving once again that the best instrument in the world is human voice. Wanna know, wanna know, wanna go, wanna go is one of this year’s best vocal interpretations.
