Shawn Williams - Sulking in Love (2023)

Shawn Williams released her 5th studio album "Sulking In Love" - produced by GRAMMY Award winner Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, U2, etc.) and featuring legendary musicians such as Michael Chaves (guitar - Marianne Faithfull, Leonard Cohen); Daryl Johnson (bass - The Neville Brothers, Emmylou Harris ); and Omari Neville (drums - The Neville Brothers) - it is a collection of songs that seamlessly weave together a multitude of genres.

Hailing from the melting pot of New Orleans, Shawn Williams makes music that's every bit as diverse and hauntingly soulful as her hometown. She calls it "alt-rock-countrybilly, serial killer blues," carving out an atmospheric sound that blends amplified guitars, honest lyrics, and nocturnal arrangements into her own brand of Americana-noire."I've always been drawn to dark themes," she explains. "Maybe it comes from being in New Orleans. Maybe it comes from my love of the desert. It just flows out of me from somewhere else."

"The unbridled Williams sings of lust and longing at the dark end of the street," gushes The Advocate, alternately describing the songwriter's sound as "hillbilly-post-punk-goth-rock" and "Hank Williams meets The Smiths meets Siouxsie and the Banshees." Defying categorisation, Shawn Williams wears her broken heart on her sleeve . It's an album of dynamic shifts, its full-throttle highs and lonely lows mirroring the roller-coaster ride of heartbreak itself, and Williams sings each song in a voice flecked with both the twang of alt-country and the pissed-off power of alt-rock. She makes her home there, in the grey area between genres, planting her flag in territory that runs beside her influences, yet is still distinctly her own. Yes, there's darkness at the end of that street. But there's also melody, guitar-driven muscle, and the cutting insights of a songwriter who, like her New Orleans home, isn't afraid to embrace both the wild thrills and dangerous possibilities that come with a life lived after sundown.