Slick, smooth retro-soul

Nick Waterhouse‰’s latest release sound like something that would soundtrack the show Suits, classy, soulful and cool in the way a fancy smoke filled room club is cool. The music on Holly emulates 50s R&B and soul, but instead of sounding nostalgic and Golden Age Syndrome-y sounds natural and vintage, a la Sharon Jones and Lee Fields. Waterhouse adds a little bit more of a rock dynamic to his songs than those two via his Buddy Holly and Scotty Moore emulating guitar playing. He doesn‰’t play riffs per se, but he uses it as a lead instrument, playing solos that recall Buddy Holly and Scotty Moore. The rest of the instrumentation includes bluesy organ, swinging drums and soulful backing vocals, and the lyrics focus on retro-soul mainstays like love, greed, righteous despair, etc. Holly might not be the deepest record, but it sounds good, and it‰’s well written and energizing soul tunes should stand out among all of your weirdo indie iTunes libraries and are worth a listen.

RIYL: Lee Fields, Sharon Jones, Van Morrison
Recommended: 1-3, 8