Ana Egge - Is It the Kiss (2019)

What's most immediately striking about Ana Egge's latest, 'Is It the Kiss', is its rich sonic coherence. Ana's at the center, but the term singer/songwriter doesn't cover it. This is much more than words and tunes - the whole is informed by her deeply-rooted musical intelligence. It's only because she defies category that she usually winds up in the folk bin, but from the beginning she's been inspired by the raunchy warmth and laid-back intensity of singers such as Etta James and Ann Peebles, while emulating the strangely sturdy crystalline quality, real and true, of Dolly Parton. As a guitarist, early on, Ana dug into the picking patterns and driving right hand of Big Bill Broonzy, Mississippi John Hurt, and Elizabeth Cotten, while also absorbing the swinging, behind-the-beat phrasing of Django Reinhardt. The country side of things is well-represented on the album by pedal steel (Matt Davidson) and fiddle (Alex Hargreaves) and by the songs "Cocaine Cowboys" and her affecting duet with Iris Dement on a cover of Diana Jones' "Ballad of the Poor Child." But, actually, this is something of a soul record. The tracks are grounded by the Brooklyn indie-all-star rhythm section of Jacob Silver and Robin MacMillan, the slow grooves are sweetened by horns like molasses (Cole Kamen-Green and Adam Dotson), and at the center of it all is Ana's guitar, that sounds like it knows something about how Steve Cropper and Curtis Mayfield could delicately, but determinedly, provide a sweetly-beating funky heart. Plus there are alt-guitar flashes by Buck Meek (Big Thief) and the whole is pulled together by arranger/producer/instrumentalist Alec Spiegelman (Cuddle Magic).