The outstanding reviews of the new album keep coming in, but here is one that really touched me and I wanted to share. Thanks to the journalists/reviewers who actually take the time to listen carefully.
THE WORLD COULD CHANGE Layla Zoe (Cable Car Records) ****+
"If you want to talk about ladies that sing the blues, and I mean really own it, Layla Zoe is a necessary part of that conversation. I’ve been following her for a number of years now, and was delighted to find her latest album in my inbox. The World Could Change is a tour de force, a unique blend of blues styles with plenty of range, muscle and passion.
The World Could Change finds Layla hooking up creatively with multi-instrumentalist Henrik Frieschlader, 9 years after their previous collaboration, 2013’s The Lily. The passion and fire in her voice is a good match for Freischlader’s earthy guitar playing style, but this album is more than just ‘pedal to the metal’. There’s that, but there are some nice changeups and grooves explored too, like Brother, Praying Kind and the flat-out gorgeous Baby Bird. These numbers feel like the soul of the album, but when she leans back and roars boy, you’d better watch out.
As with previous releases, The World Could Change is sonically terrific. Henrik produces as well as playing most of the instruments, with the exception of Moritz Fuhrhop’s sympathetic keyboard work, plus vocals and backing vocals from Ms. Zoe herself. When you start absorbing the lyrics, it feels like the record is about more than the usual blues tropes. Personal subjects sit well with more worldly concerns as we all watch the daily news and inevitably mutter “Oh jeez, what next?!?” Admittedly it’s her fire ‘n’ brimstone stuff that first hooked me; specifically Highway Of Tears from 2016’s Breaking Free; but when she gets intimate and personal on Brother on the new disc I’m smitten again in an entirely different way.
The World Could Change is one of the must have records of 2022, an album to be heard and felt."
HOT TRACKS: Dark Heart, Brother, Watch What You’re Doing
