Tal Wilkenfeld – Love Remains
Release Date: March 15 via BMG
12 March 2019
Some people (myself included) are familiar with Tal Wilkenfeld as a killer bass player. She expertly plays the bass with Jeff Beck and has made several high profile guest appearances with artists like Mick Jagger, Prince, Herbie Hancock and The Allman Brothers. That part of her resume in itself is pretty spectacular. So when I received her new album that was to feature her as a singer, songwriter and instrumentalist – to say I was intrigued would be an understatement. But I wasn’t exactly sure what I’d be getting into.
What I got was a ten track album full of excellent musicianship, distinct vocals and some of the best production I’ve heard so far in 2019. The album, Love Remains was recorded primarily at East West Studios in Los Angeles and was co-produced by Paul Stacey (Oasis, The Kooks, Black Crowes) with Jackson Browne serving as executive producer. Many talented musicians involved in the making of this album were guitarist Blake Mills (Alabama Shakes, Perfume Genius), keyboardists Benmont Tench (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) & Zac Rae (Death Cab for Cutie, Lana Del Rey) and drummer Jeremy Stacey (Ryan Adams, Noel Gallagher).
The album opener, Corner Painter is the perfect song to introduce the listener to Tal’s vocal tone that has a nice thick sound that’s powerful and sweet all at the same time. She carries a Linda Perry quality that can be sensitive at times and hair raising at others. Her lower register reminded me of the super soulful vocalist Anastacia. Both have a unique, ear pleasing tone.
The next two tracks are two of my favorites on the album. Counterfeit and Hard To Be Alone. These two songs are in complete contrast to one another. The former has a nice reflective sound to it and is a nice chill song. You really get to feel Tal’s voice in this one. The snare is loose and completely fits the overall tone of the song. I love the the last minute or so of this one. Things get cooking as it flows into the next track.
Hard To Be Alone is a great way to bring in an audience that may be unfamiliar with Tal. I don’t want to say that the album feels dated because it does not. But there is this angry sound – almost grungy about it that really grabs the attention of my ear. If someone was trying to sound like Soundgarden or Mad Season, you’d be tempted to roll your eyes. But with Tal, she does this, I think unintentionally and does it well. Especially on this track. I literally closed my eyes and thought about what Chris Cornell would’ve sounded like on it. Tal reaches up and grabs the goods as she delivers her higher register vocals with a strain of emotion. It’s really great stuff.
I mentioned some of the musicians involved with this album. If you want to see what professional musicians sound like.. Go have a listen to this song.
The title track, Love Remains is dead center on this album. I thought this is what I wanted but I keep trying to tear it down. Tal sings and captures that look in the mirror view as WE ALL second guess our actions at some point. I especially liked the double tracked voice and harmonies throughout this song.
Fistful Of Glass is another example of that sound I mentioned earlier. It has those 90’s undertones while still sounding modern. I found myself wanting to hear those pre-choruses over and over. Again, another nice job on the harmonies during that part to go along with the chord change. It’s a short song at 2:29 but this one has radio written all over it.
My very favorite song is track nine, Killing Me. Let’s talk music for a second. The rim shot gives this song a sense of urgency until a nice ride cymbal takes over and relaxes it a bit. The bass guitar is smooth and groovy. There is, what sounds like a slap bass guitar sample or possibly a keyboard staccato noise that was placed perfectly, giving this song even more personality. What ever the noise, it’s a subtle but pleasing part to the song. Vocally, I really like the melody and overall is the song I come back to the most.
As a total package, this record has a good mix of up tempo songs as well as some somber acoustic driven songs. The production is outstanding in both use of instrumentation as well as placement in the mix. The bottom end on this album is incredible. They really captured those low end frequencies and didn’t loose them in post production.
Since this is Tal’s vocal album debut, I’m inclined to say that she has a strong starting point to build from. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next for her. The future is definitely bright for Tal Wilkenfeld.
-Tommy Marz
You can follow Tommy on Twitter and let him know what you think.
‘Love Remains’ Tracklisting:
1. Corner Painter
2. Counterfeit
3. Hard To Be Alone
4. Haunted Love
5. Love Remains
6. Fistful of Glass
7. Under The Sun
8. One Thing After Another
9. Killing Me
10. Pieces Of Me
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