Zoe Knight & Mythical Beasts released this album, The Good, some months back, and it is coming to my attention now as there were no hard copies available at the time. An old school soul and R&B belter, Knight might remind listeners of Anne Pebbles, Aretha Franklin, or even Janis Joplin. With a funky band behind her, Knight sings over nice thick grooves, swirling organs, and beside a whirlwind saxophone.
Opening track “The Good” lets this soul belter strut her stuff. Knight sings to a hip, lively interval of sax notes as a Hammond B3 organ cloud swirls around her. A sort of pretest song, Knight belts with heart and soul and her personal interest and oomph come across well with her action packed band in support. She uses a combo of sustains, dynamics, and at the end of this song is well worth waiting for.
“My Heart Beats For You” showcases what Knight can do with a steady beat and an open space between a riffy guitar and an dutifully obtrusive support band. Gregg Perry’s startlingly good lead guitar grinds out a melody line while second guitarist Josie Lowder scorches with an alternate riff fest. Knight puts her voice around the JL Claybourne drum beat with a special strut in her gospel high scat. She goes to town, letting her voice do the talking in this danceable number.
“I Can’t Help It” gives Knight more room to boogie amidst its mid-tempo R&B coolness. Here, Knight lets her girlish timbre sound curious as she sustains perfectly above a low key organ line. Knight shows what she’s made of vocally as she just lets her voice sustain for several long moments as the band just kisses the listeners’ consciousness. When the piece picks up more steam, guitarist Jeff Buckridge chimes in with his sensitive yet hip treatment of Knight’s primitive groove.
“Long Winter” is one of those slow dance numbers that brings numerous couples to the dance floor. Knight milks this down tempo soul belter for all the emotive content it’s worth. Keeping things heating up just below the surface, Knight builds the romantic tension and bares more of her soul. There is suspense between the moment the musicians pause and she resumes vocalizing.
Zoe Knight
Knight and her Mythical Beast swing into action with “Love Come Love Me.” This one swings like old jazz with a vocal glide over a jumpy groove. Knight and company handle this motion-filled number well. Tenor sax player Nate Fuller and Bari sax man Jason Torrey put a fulsome old school horn line behind Knight and her organ line. Gregg Perry’s guitar phrase packs a wallop, and it sounds cool beside those swaying saxes. Knight’s higher register vocal soars here, and she makes quite an impression soaring ever higher over this speakeasy type band.
“Elemental” lets Knight showcase more of the romantic tension she can build with her ever increasing intensity. Using dynamics, she controls the motions of this song, and that control gives it a sensuality. One can almost picture Knight singing this into her lover’s ear as her voice trails off. Nate Fuller’s tenor sax matches the air of the Knight’s smooth vocal glide and she in turn matches his glide with a full organ line compliment. It is the way Knight has put this song together from its various parts that makes it work.
Coming in with a bulbous reggae groove, “Equality For All” has got its own special gifts. It requires Knight to sing over empty spaces, forcing her to put her force into each meter. She passes this test with flying colors, letting her vocal and her lyrical message bloom as sings more fiercely. Her organ line works well with the rhythm section bop coming from drummer Zeke Martin and bass player Craig Holland.
Down tempo shuffler “Better” lets Knight uncoil her vocal magic in between the spaces again. Here, Knight’s lilting lead vocal toys with the groove she sings over, and her vocal power build up the more she sings of the one she’d like to get to know better. Her high voice finesses not only the lyrics but also lights up her sonic landscape with some nicely sustained coos. Lowder and Perry got to work with their riffing lines, thickening the groove, and giving Knight a push into a freer vocal territory.
Knight shimmies her way through the tight, danceable “Make Your Move.” While everyone else is grooving, Knight puts her smooth, high vocal through the twists and turns created by her support players. The player funk hard, and Knight moves through with an undaunted boldness. Each instrument chimes in here and there but no matter how clever played, Knight has the chops to make her vocal dance with it. Going into her higher range makes this song one of those pretty R&B numbers. Old school. Lowdy and Schindler paint the town red on saxophone too, another exciting element.
“Sweetness Honey” lets Knight vibe with her suggestive lyrics. Asking for more sweetness, this vocalist sings with conviction as her vocal becomes more powerful while her band widens the song around its funky beat. It’s cool, too, how her voice flows as smooth and freely as its accompanying sax.
Zoe Knight
Bringing in a dainty, old fashioned keyboard melody, “Come Here My Darling Lover” requires Knight to sing up high. Without losing any of her magic, Knight conjures a 1960s vibe as she folds her voice around the last line in each verse. Her vocal trapeze act stuns with its prettiness while a thick weave of horn and keys envelops her voice before riding out with her. A perfect song ending.
Close out track “That’s Okay” lets Knight and her band boogie. A funk fest, horns jump, guitars riff, and organs swirl. Over the funk-tah-fied atmosphere, Knight warps her belty vocal around a jumpy groove and alongside a twitchy band and its jittery notes, instrumentation that makes all want to dance. When Knight sustains her voice over this beautiful jungle of sound it rings out with power and authenticity.
Knight and her R&B crew do a bang up job with the old school R&B and 1970s flavored funk on The Good. The word “Good” is an understatement for this album, but in the modern use of the world, everyone who hears this album will be good. Produced by Zoe Knight with help from Will Holland at Chillhouse Studios at Charlestown, Massachusetts, it resonates with all of the funky artiness Knight strives for.
https://www.mythicalbeastsband.com/
