Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By A.A. Williams, Bella Union 2020.
Last week I brought you the first album that London based singer/songwriter A.A. Williams released this year and now here is her second full album for the year.
Songs From Isolation is a nine track album that is due for release in February 2021 and so far she has dropped the first single, a hauntingly beautiful cover of The Cure’s, Love Song.
Williams performs the track accompanied by piano only which highlights her remarkable voice and superb piano playing, not to mention the majesty of the song itself.
Her rendition is at least as good as Adele’s version.
The album is being distributed through Bandcamp and if you order it now you get the single immediately and the complete album when it’s released.
As I stated last week, Williams rise up the charts has been exceptional for a number of reasons.
Firstly, its brevity, to go from making your debut at the beginning of the year to headlining shows at major venues within the one calendar year is in itself remarkable.
Think of how long famous artists such as Elton John, The Beatles, The Stones etc. had to toil away to gain recognition before making it big.
Before their recording contract with Parlophone The Beatles had spent years mastering their craft, travelling to Hamburg twice (where they often played up to eight hours a day) as well as playing hundreds of gigs in Liverpool, all to little or no national recognition.
Secondly, the universal acclaim that she has received from the English music press.
To say that they have been effusive in their praise would be a massive understatement.
All of this attention is yet to translate into chart-topping commercial success, particularly at the international level, but that will come, it’s only a matter of time.
It’s been some time since I’ve been so enamoured of a young artist but I do believe that A.A. Williams possesses all the hallmarks of superstardom.
And, considering her output, she doesn’t seem to have let the pandemic stifle her creativity.
