REVIEW: LEON BRIDGES - LEON

4/5

The Professional

Bridging the gap between modern music and the instant vintage (we see you, Ray, Ray) of old soul, 'Leon' Bridges is back with his first namesake, fourth formidable album. 'Leon' follows the tracks of the Grammy winning 'Coming Home' and 'River' singer's 'Motorbike' led last album 'Gold-Diggers Sound'. Seemingly yesterday, but one that came out in 2021, like volume one of Coldplay's 'Music Of The Spheres' catalogue. Coincidentally, those Glastonbury headliners also came out with new music this Friday, in the form of their spherical second volume, 'Moon Music'. Now, led by the sensational singles 'That's What I Love' and 'Peaceful Place', Leon gives us another classic and his best album since 2018's 'Good Thing' and its Grammy family single. I guess the bet WAS worth the hand.

Atlanta's own, singing about peaches and cream like 112, made his name and worth in the forts of Texas. You can hear it in the sun and moon of extended plays he's made with supergroup Khruangbin (technically, his last release was the 'Texas Moon' collaborative EP project in early '22). His sound just gets so much 'Sweeter', like his subtle, but beautiful protest anthem with Terrace Martin, what the world STILL needs now. Even though in a compelling closing, Leon tells us, 'God Loves Everyone'. It's a crazy time. The mere mention of One Twelve makes us think of P. Diddy and all that he has done. Another former hero, that turned out to be worse than a zero. Just like R. Kelly, who was crafting a classic like 'When A Man Lies' until we found out he really did (added Karl-Anthony Towns voice for emphasis). Well, on 'When A Man Cries', Bridges begins with a beauty that you can track in tears of a clown, like Smokey Miracles, not actual ones. "Turn my pain into power/My fear to desire, oh/Woah/Fall apart when I try to be strong/Gotta learn how to cry, oh-oh." Amen.

Like the loving, hurting, breaking and healing of a Rupi Kaur poem, love and life is all here in the milk and honey of a heaven sent artist. More neo in the soul of this urban music matrix, like the steady stream of Bilal beauty, who had his own album out last week. Adjusting the brightness, to this beautiful afternoon in the park, Leon Bridges is sat on a lawn chair, shaded under a tree that could have been the same one his 'Motorbike' music film character died under. The river that maybe made his name and career behind him. His name fashioned above his fit like it was a Gap advert for the stylish icon. But this is Wrangler's man. And that's what 'That's What I Love' sounds like in all its, "Bourbon, Cadillacs, blue denim/Making love on the beach in the mornin'/Springtime in the Trinity River, gold jewellery/All black penny loafers." Suit up. From the inspired 'Ivy', to the sweet 'Ghetto Honeybee', Bridges brings it all. Changing clothes to the "stonewash denim with the long crease in 'em and my snakeskin boots", that still 'Ain't Got Nothing On You'.

Lucky for some, going forth, this 13-track album from the singer/songwriter will be your musical landscape, from the streets of 'Laredo', to the pride of 'Panther City'. Can you see one of the biggest and best black artists making history in all of music? It's all about the love and heart that we should all 'Simplify' like the lasting lines of "She was my first love, wonder how she doin' now/What if I had loved her?/What if I had stayed?/What if I'd never put my money on a chase?", that vow a matrimony in marriage with another life we all could have had if we just went left, right? We all wish we go back sometimes, as 'Teddy's Tune' keeps singing those "what if" blues away. It's a marvel to behold, like Leon in full force. An artist and man who would have been the greatest in the days of Marvin. This underrated, underappreciated and unsung hero will just have to settle for being a legend in our time.

"I can't get you off my mind/Let it last all the time/Hope our bodies meet again/Hope I get your love again." The trick is to be 'Never Satisfied' as we chase our art and heart. The act of making love and life being as such. Even if we 'Can't Have It All' like "A life that's worth living/Take me away/Each night I pray/But baby, if you say no/I'll be living in my misery/Heart stop, can't breathe", in the yearning and burning of a better way and life. Conceived since his childhood, and a love letter (and more than one song) to his time in "beloved" Forth Worth, Texas' own brings the world together with the very purity and depths of his soul. A greater substance than his slick style, from his hair to his boots. Cut like a classic of not just his, but our time, Bridges' 'Leon' says it best, on God. "God loves the birds and the bees/God loves the stoners and freaks/And the girls on the street/Just the same as you and me/Old men and the young and the strange/School kid looking out at the rain/Cops on the beat and the crooks in the cage/Just the same." Everyone under the Texas sun. A feeling from the most high you can have faith in as you run it back. All the way to the roots of nostalgia, truly coming home. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Playlist Picks: 'When A Man Cries', 'Ivy', 'God Loves Everyone'.

Spin This: Leon Bridges - 'Good Thing'.