‘Lioness’ is the latest album from Texan soulstress K.AVETT (pronounced “kay uh vet”) – a lady we’ve been watching, listening to and enjoying since her 2016 debut ‘K.Avett: Revelations’. This new set continues her upward trajectory with plenty of soul commentators giving the collection a huge thumbs up for simply being soul music for grownups.
And they’re right; there’s real maturity and care about ‘Lioness’. Take the title cut…. it’s svelte and slinky and sonically captures the power and the stealth of the creature in the title; it’s one of the album’s highlights. Proper soul followers will also be aware of ‘Feelin’ Good’ and ‘The Matter’ released as a double A sided single in March. We loved ‘Feelin’ Good’ back then and it’s lost none of its charm and feel good summer vibe.
The whole album is worth checking – especially if your thing is neo/nu soul but even if it’s not I’d suggest you’d still love things like the gentle, semi-spoken ‘Time Won’t Wait’, the sweet ballad that is ‘In My Life’ and the very different, finger-clicking, mover and shaker – ‘Soldier’ (that one is a duet with the underrated Noel Gourdin).
The singer tells us that the album attempts to show “an amalgamation of strength, vulnerability, truth, joy, sensuality, pain and resilience… the qualities of a lioness”. I’d suggest Ms K.Avett has succeeded and without wanting to sound sexist or patronising , the gorgeous cover portrait captures the same feline qualities!
