Canadian R&B artist Emily Chambers impresses with the very catchy track “Left Alabama,” a showcase in enthralling vocal performance and sweet melodic suaveness. A faultless vocal performance combines with a vibrant funk and R&B arsenal, expanding just after the one-minute mark with jazzy keys and lively vocal-reflecting brass. I’m fondly reminded of The Style Council in terms of approach. Engaging R&B with sophisti-pop elements is a style that I’d love to hear more from, so I’ll be keeping an ear out for future releases from Chambers, for sure.
“I wrote this song when I was driving from New Orleans to Nashville (where I now live) for the first time,” Chambers explains. “I had started the second leg of my first US tour in my 1983 Dodge Camper Van. My bandmate had just left for another tour and I was on my own for the first time. It was an incredibly freeing feeling. Earlier that same year I had quit my day job working in insurance to do music full time, bought said camper van, and planned this tour. I manifested that exact moment; it was bad ass.”
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“Left Alabama” and other memorable tracks from this month can also be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Best of January 2019’ Spotify playlist.
The track is also featured in the genre-based, best-of Spotify compilation Indie Funk and Soul.