What Now [Transparent Light Blue Vinyl] [Barnes & Noble Exclusive] in Bloomington, MN

It's hard not to view
What Now
as a reaction to
Jaime
, both as a title and an album.
Brittany Howard
spent that 2019 album plumbing the depths of her soul, dedicating the record to her deceased sister and exploring the lingering trauma of that loss. With that catharsis out of the way, it's natural to ask, "what now?" The answer is liberation, with
Howard
diving into the freeing rush of psychedelic soul in all its myriad forms. A hybrid of a breakup record and pandemic reflection,
finds
looking inward lyrically while setting her sights on the farthest reaches of her musical purview. Although she's reuniting with
Shawn Everett
, who first collaborated with her as an engineer on
Alabama Shakes
'
Sound & Color
and is a co-producer here, she's hardly reverting to the Americana of her first band. Using
Prince
as a guiding star,
places funk at the foundation of
, then layers on piercing falsettos, thick shards of guitars, and melodies that tease. Despite her clear debt to the Purple One and the occasional nod to other retro styles ("I Don't" is a '70s Philly soul slow-burner at heart),
is hardly an exercise in nostalgia.
dresses the album in electronic flair, underpinning her swirling aural explorations with skittering drumbeats and sequencing the entire record with the logic of a lysergic journey; the texture matters more than hooks. While each song may have a distinct character -- the title track has a coiled urgency, countered by the hushed shimmer of "To Be Still" -- the individual tracks matter less than the collective experience. Isolated songs may hint at
's expanded emotional and musical palette, but
is a proper album, where each segment expands and interlocks, providing a whole that's greater than its separate parts. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine