Reviews
Artist:Emma Wilson Album: Wish Her Well
Label: EW Music
Tracks: 10
Website: https://www.emmawilson.net/
In 2019, Teessider Emma Wilson included just one acoustic original song on an EP of covers entitled "Live & Acoustic". That song now opens her new album of original songs (released on 13th May), and gives the work its title "Wish Her Well". During the misery of one of the Lockdowns, I had the pleasure of reviewing her 2021 "Loveheart" EP, a collection of covers of some of my favourite blues songs, and she delivered superbly, so I'd been looking forward to hearing more of her original material.
Recorded in Jackdaw Studios in Kent, with Mark Neary (Noel Gallagher's bassist) co-writing eight of the songs and contributing bass, Emma Wilson's band for the "Wish Her Well" album also includes Mat Hector (Iggy Pop drummer), second co-writer for tracks 8 and 9 Adam Chetwood on guitar, and on the seventh of the ten tracks, Alessandro Brunetta on harmonica. You don't attract musicians of that calibre unless you have a significant talent yourself, and it's clear that Emma Wilson's writing has taken a huge leap forward with this album. And so to the songs.
"Wish Her Well" lays down the marker for the album, with Wilson's voice winding up with restrained power as the song takes its course. This is a voice of such quality it reminds me at times of Mica Paris. "Mary Lou" is the surprise of the album for me. It's a blues pop song borne out of its time with a lovely touch Motown influence to Mark Neary's production, and with a backing band that reminds me at times of the way The Faces used to back Rod Stewart. The song signals Wilson's vocal versatility. Her voice can belt it out just as it can caress with a dreamier sound.
"Little Love Bite" is gorgeous from start to finish, and my personal standout track of the album. It's lazy pace, beautifully placed backing vocals, and superb lead guitar are the perfect backdrop for Wilson to showcase her full range, and this is some performance! "Rack 'em Up" changes the pace of the album with a more conventional blues rock beat. What I love about this album is the aforementioned restraint, providing the listener with an almost constant mood of anticipation.
I was expecting "Blossom Like Snow" to be more of a slow ballad, but it has an unexpectedly jazzy rhythm to it and provides a nice, subtle change of direction for the album. The backing instrumentation in this track is wonderfully placed, and this was a track I listened to over and over during my first pass. The funkier delivery of "She Isn't You" features some excellent bass playing from Neary, which helped me to hone in on the real triumph of this album. The musicians that Wilson works with have enabled her to express the full range of her voice with more freedom that I'd heard in her previous work.
"Not Paying" is a blues-rocker which brings out for the first time on this work the full power of this amazing voice. "Nuthin I Won't Do" returns to the funkier instrumental style with that Motown feel, enhanced by a vocal that reminded me here of Dusty Springfield. The lead guitar solo and percussive hand clapping in the middle section really add something to this clever song.
I selected "Back On The Road" to play on The Compendium back in February when the album was still scheduled for a March release. There have been all kinds of hurdles being put in the way of album releases in the last couple of years, but this one has been well worth the wait. The album ends appropriately with a song called "Then I'm Gone" where Wilson opens with a lower register voice that really suits the mood, and it struck me in the call and response chorus that there are very few backing vocals on "Wish Her Well", because it doesn't need them.
This is a beautifully produced blues-rock album, with the perfect blend of musicianship to back one of the finest female blues rock voices I've heard in a long time.
John Reed
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Wish Her Well
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