San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Listen: Evanescence is back, plus other new tunes.
The Chronicle’s guide to notable new music. NEW ALBUMS
Evanescence, “The Bitter Truth” (BMG): The latest album from the hard rock band is a fierce statement from bandleader Amy Lee about overcoming some of the harsh realities of life in the 21st century. A twotime Grammy Awardwinning band from Little Rock, Ark., Evanescence won the coveted best new artist award in 2004 and was a staple on the radio in those early aughts. Now “The Bitter Truth” — the band’s first album of original songs in 10 years — makes a fierce personal declaration of independence on hardhitting songs like “Better Without You” and “Yeah Right.”
Released concurrently with the album is a fiveissue fantasy graphic novel series called “Echoes From The Void,” which illustrates stories based on the band’s song catalog. Made with Lee’s creative direction, the series was produced by a talented cast of allfemale writers and illustrators.
El Michels Affair, “Yeti Season” (Big Crown Records): The third studio album from New York funk and soul artist Leon Michels’ band is a journey through multicultural soul music of the Middle East, North Africa and more. Michels came to prominence as a backing instrumentalist for the WuTang Clan, followed by his 2009 cult classic album of WuTang instrumentals, “Enter the 37th Chamber.” He’s made quite the name for himself since as a member of Dan Auerbach’s supergroup the Arcs, Menahan Street Band and the DapKings. He’s also been a producer for artists like Lee Fields, Aloe Blacc, and JayZ and Beyonce’s the Carters project.
Released on Michels’ own Big Crown Records label, “Yeti Season’’ sounds like what you might hear while sitting in a hip outdoor cafe at a bazaar. Standout single “Fazed Out” even features heralded Turkish musician Tamer Pinarbasi on the traditional Arabic strings of the qanun.
The Antlers, “Green To Gold” (ANTI) :Frontman Peter Silberman “set out to make Sunday morning music” with this latest release from the Brooklyn band. The new material is gentler than the Antlers’ riveting 2009 release, “Hospice,” a concept album that tells the story of a terminal cancer patient falling in love with a hospice worker, and it follows a sevenyear lull since the release of the band’s previous album, “Familiars.”
Silberman said in a statement that “Green to Gold” is “the first album I’ve made that has no eeriness in it,” and indeed the songs are beautifully atmospheric. His pillowy vocals on “Stubborn Man,” the strings on “Solstice,” and the relaxed drums and cozy guitars of the title track make for an especially lovely soundtrack to watching the sunrise with a bold cup of coffee in hand.
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
Pharoah Sanders, Floating Points and the London Symphony Orchestra, “Promises” (Luaka Bop): A sprawling epic of an album, “Promises’’ is a continuous work of nine movements by British electronic producer and pianist Sam Shepherd (Floating Points) and freejazz saxophone legend Pharoah Sanders. On the grandiose project, the pair enlisted the string section of the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by composer Sally Herbert.
Together they have created ethereal music that feels like nothing short of the soundtrack to a dream.
The Luaka Bop label was founded by David Byrne of Talking Heads and has a penchant for releasing music that pushes the boundaries of expectation; this divine collaboration is no different.
LOCAL PICK
Tower of Power, “50 Years of Funk & Soul — Live at the Fox Theater” (Artistry Music/Mack Avenue Music Group): In June 2018, Oakland’s celebrated funk and soul band Tower of Power played two 50th anniversary shows for 2,800capacity crowds at its hometown Fox Theater. Now the album and concert DVD of those shows have been released, and they include a careerspanning 22track set with hits like opener “Stroke 75,” “What Is Hip,” ”Soul With a Capital S,” and then some.
With longtime bandleader and saxophonist Emilio Castillo at the helm, the 10piece band was joined by additional strings and horns for the live shows, as well as Tower of Power alumni like sax player Lenny Pickett and keyboardist Chester Thompson.
Castillo said in a statement that Oakland “defined my approach to music,” and the energy from both the Bay Area crowd and the band at this party of a performance is palpable in this vibrant recording.
SONG OF THE MOMENT
Leslie Odom Jr., “Speak Now” (ABKCO): You may have heard Odom’s song on the end credits of the Regina Kingdirected film “One Night in Miami,” in which he plays influential singer Sam Cooke. Odom, who also portrayed Aaron Burr in LinManuel Miranda’s original “Hamilton!” cast, recorded it for the fictionalized movie about a 1964 meeting between prominent Black leaders Jim Brown, Malcolm X, Cassius Clay and Cooke.
The vocalist’s impassioned delivery on “Speak Now” earned him and songwriter Sam Ashworth an Oscar nomination for best original song — to go along with Odom’s bestsupporting actor nod — at the 93rd Academy Awards, which are set for April 25.