5度のグラミー賞受賞歴を持つ、Brittany Howard。バンド、Alabama Shakesを経た後に、ソロとしては2作目となるアルバムをIslandレーベルからリリースする事が決定。アルバム・タイトルと同名の「What Now」が先行トラックとして公開された。この曲はシンコペーションが効いたグルーヴ、ブリスターなギター・リフ、そして激しく正直な歌詞が印象的で、サイケデリア、ダンス・ミュージック、ドリーム・ポップ、アヴァン・ジャズなど、あらゆるジャンルを網羅し、レトロ・フューチャー・アフロイズムの探求にも傾倒している。

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2023/11/24）

Its hard not to view What Now as a reaction to Jaime, both as a title and an album. Brittany Howard spent that 2019 album plumbing the depths of her soul, dedicating the record to her deceased sister and exploring the lingering trauma of that loss. With that catharsis out of the way, its natural to ask, "what now?" The answer is liberation, with Howard diving into the freeing rush of psychedelic soul in all its myriad forms. A hybrid of a breakup record and pandemic reflection, What Now finds Howard looking inward lyrically while setting her sights on the farthest reaches of her musical purview. Although shes reuniting with Shawn Everett, who first collaborated with her as an engineer on Alabama Shakes Sound & Color and is a co-producer here, shes hardly reverting to the Americana of her first band. Using Prince as a guiding star, Howard places funk at the foundation of What Now, then layers on piercing falsettos, thick shards of guitars, and melodies that tease. Despite her clear debt to the Purple One and the occasional nod to other retro styles ("I Dont" is a 70s Philly soul slow-burner at heart), What Now is hardly an exercise in nostalgia. Howard dresses the album in electronic flair, underpinning her swirling aural explorations with skittering drumbeats and sequencing the entire record with the logic of a lysergic journey; the texture matters more than hooks. While each song may have a distinct character -- the title track has a coiled urgency, countered by the hushed shimmer of "To Be Still" -- the individual tracks matter less than the collective experience. Isolated songs may hint at Howards expanded emotional and musical palette, but What Now is a proper album, where each segment expands and interlocks, providing a whole thats greater than its separate parts. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Rovi