4/5 stars
Blessed with Leon Bridges’ sunshine ray of a voice and boasting an immaculately rendered retro soul backdrop, Coming Home is probably the best record of 2015 that sounds like it could have been made in 1964.
The debut from the 25-year-old Texan, it’s a stylish and resolutely sedate affair with peaks including the gently swinging ‘Flowers’ and the title track, which recalls Sam Cooke at his most effortless.
While the ten songs here rarely raise a sweat, it is a record steeped in emotion, with ‘Better Man’ seeing Bridges plead for a second chance and ‘Pull Away’ an elegantly rendered sign-off. It’s not just the production that’s anchored in the past, the imagery also recalls a bygone era. When Bridges isn’t singing of salvation beckoning, he’s considering the possibility of hopping on a cross-country train to escape his woes.
There’s a strong vein of humility here as well, highlighted by ‘Lisa Sawyer’, which begins irresistibly with doo-wop vocals bathed in lush reverb and builds into a heartfelt biographical sketch of Bridges’ mother. While likely too polite for some tastes, Coming Home will be catnip for anyone longing for a return to a sunnier era of soul music.
