Kyla Brox - Pain & Glory (2019)

Kyla Brox's scintillating, multi-faceted new album, Pain & Glory marks her ascendancy to the very first rank of British singers. Kyla has been a professional musician since the age of twelve first in her father, Victor Brox's band, then striking out on her own and Pain & Glory represents the culmination of a quarter of a century's experience on the road and in the studio. The variety and depth of her vocal performances have grown year on year and are given a superb setting in this album's sweeping landscape of soul, blues, urban R&B, blues-rock, and singer-songwriter pop of the highest class. Highlights abound: the retro-soul, slow-burn balladry and melodic momentum of the title track; the jubilant R&B of 'Choose Life'; 'In The Morning' is a swaggering, sensual blues shuffle; 'Manchester Milan', unfurls as a wistful, sophisticated meditation on a cosmopolitan affaire d'amour; 'Lover's Lake' has the gentle, inviting pulse of a Fleetwood Mac b-side; while the hot funk of 'Let You Go' flames with righteous Girl Power brio. Two tracks perhaps deserve extra-special mention. Firstly, the swingin', jivin', 'Bluesman's Child' which documents Kyla's teenage years of singing with her father's band. A bit of background: in the early '60s her dad, Victor Brox formed the Victor Brox Blues Train with singer Annette Reis, who would become Kyla's mother. They were, perhaps, the first interracial band on the scene, Annette having been born in Stockport of African-Canadian, English and Nigerian heritage. Victor went on to the influential Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation drawing the admiration of Jimi Hendrix, who dubbed Victor his favourite white voice . Robert Plant was also a teenage fan. Kyla sometimes performs with Victor and Annette to this day. Secondly, classic-in-waiting, 'Don't Let Me Fall' wields seriously radio-friendly soul-pop heft, as Kyla builds from a crooning start to an astonishing crescendo where she sings without the brakes on. It is a truly thrilling aural experience. Such a treasure shines all the brighter in being supported by a superb team Kyla's brother, Sam Brox of Dust Junkys fame produces empathetically with help from Kyla herself and her husband, co-writer and bassist Danny Blomeley it is indeed, a family affair. John Ellis (Honeyfeet, The Cinematic Orchestra, Lily Allen etc), plays keys with alchemical excellence; in-the-pocket drummer Mark Warburton is a master of economy; Paul Farr (Corinne Bailey Rae, Joss Stone, Tom Jones) is an enchantingly fluent guitarist; while the renowned Haggis Horns proclaimed 'the best horn section in the world' by Mark Ronson create a further dimension to these already finely crafted, appealing songs with their mellifluous and punchy arrangements.