Album review: Louis York - American Griots

Louis York are a duo consisting of songwriter Claude Kelly and producer Chuck Harmony. You may know Claude from hits such as "Party In The USA", "My Life Would Suck Without You", as well as writing half of Christina Aguilera's beloved flop Bionic. If Ne-Yo fans look through his album inlays, they will see Chuck Harmony littered throughout the song credits. You hay also see him listed in a Celine album, a Jessie J album, a Toni Braxton album, a Rihanna album. The list could go on. The breadth of talent that Claude and Chuck have worked with is so varied, that trying to even pin what an album would sound like from the two of them is pointless. And yet after listening to their album, I'm sat thinking 'Of course this is the fucking type of album that they would do'.

American Griots is a melting pot of songwriter Claude Kelly and producer Chuck Harmony's influences. From Phil Collins, to Stevie Wonder, to Willie Nelson, to Michael Jackson; there are no boundaries as far as influence and genre is concerned. But the one influence that seems to anchor this album the greatest, for me personally, is Phil Collins. No matter where Claude and Chuck reach to on American Griots, they always snap back to Phil; an artist who has surprisingly been loved and respected within R&B and Hip-Hop for years.

From the offset it's clear that the mission with American Griots is to take you on a journey; opening up with a spoken word into and then transitioning into the albums' first song "All In My Feelings". Whilst songs about being in ones feelings have become a topic that's been put on the table for male artists in R&B and Rap as of late, something that was popularised by Drake, the subject matter has always been slightly fraught from a male perspective; with blame being placed on a woman. Where-as here its from the perspective of a man admitting that he's the reason for being in his own feelings, for pushing people away, and suffering from anxiety because of it. And this is all to a musical backdrop which is very reminiscent of Phil Collins' "In The Air Tonight" and "Droned". "All In My Feelings" kinda sums up American Griots in a nutshell. Taking recognisable sounds and well beaten song subject matters, but twisting them slightly into something that manages to feel both familiar and new. It's the type of flex you'd expect and also want from an album from a duo who have spent their careers writing and producing hits.

Claude Kelly has written for so many artists, about so many different things, from so many viewpoints, that American Griots easily could have been a vanity project that had him trying to do it all, writing 13 different songs about 13 different topics with sounds which are reminiscent of the hits he's written for other artists. But he chose to focus on one thing. Love. And within that, the different facets of it. No two songs on this album approach the topic of love in the same way. We get songs about being scared of love. Pleas to not forget the love. How to make the world better with love. Love for good pussy. You don't have to be in love or ever had been in love to appreciate the songs on this album, because of the way they're written. If you can't relate to the lyrics, then you'll appreciate the catchiness of the songs and the richness of the production. There is a song on this album for everyone, and every song has something in it that you can shift the context of. Maybe you've never had a partner who has left you lost for words as in "Electric Blue", but maybe you've experienced an unrequited love that's made you feel that way. Maybe you're gay and have no idea what pussy feels like in the way it's described in "Velvet", but perhaps you've had bussy that felt like velvet. Maybe your own bussy feels like velvet. You might not have ruined a romantic relationship that's left you all in your feelings, but maybe you've pushed a friend or a family member away that's made you feel that way. Or perhaps life as we know it in the midst of a pandemic and a corrupt government has left you alone and in your feelings. And then there's a song like "No Regrets". A song about living in your love and not caring about what anybody else thinks, because life is too short not not love freely. A song which will just cut across EVERYBODY. But a really specific cross-section of people who may latch onto this song in a WHOLE different way are those who are closeted and fear coming out.

Even though Claude is writing these songs from specific viewpoints, the songs have enough breadth in them that it's easy to adapt the context to one you can see yourself in. It's a testament to Claude Kelly's trade as a songwriter. Also, by taking one singular thing and picking it apart and exploring the different ways in which that one thing can be experienced, creates an over arching theme for the album, which ties every song together, whilst allowing each song to exist on its own.

The production on this album is stellar. But those who know Chuck Harmony shouldn't be surprised. Chuck has never had what I would call a signature production style, as per early 2000s Max Martin, Rodney Jerkins, Timbaland or The Neptunes; which makes his songs hard to pick out on the radio. The range that Chuck Harmony has shown across his career has been amazing, but what he gives you on this one album alone is pretty incredible. There is so much consideration of texture, sounds, variety, mixing and creating a soundscape. Just as Claude's lyrics tell a story of love and take you on a journey, the music does the exact same. You could strip out the lyrics and still feel that sense of what the song is about and the journey, because of the pictures the music paints, and the ways in which the songs shift, change and evolve from track to track, and sometimes even within a song.

The genre hopping this album does is ridiculous. Going from Pop, to funk, to Country, to R&B and then back again. It's great hearing an album from Black artists who don't confine themselves to what the music listening public expects of them, simply because they're Black. We've seen Black artists break out of 'Urban' categories and venture outside of R&B and Hip-Hop for the past few years now. Black artist saying fuck genre isn't new. Michael Jackson did it, as did Janet. Even Kelly Rowland did it. Dawn Richards does it. Kid Cudi does it. Crystal Kay does it. Janelle Monae does it. But there was a definite period where Black artists coloured within the lines and rarely strayed outside of it, because radio and record labels didn't allow them to. But that's changed, and it's great to see Claude and Chuck continue to do the same. No surprise given the range of artists that both have written and produced for.

American Griots does a lot, but it never feels excessive. And within it's 13 tracks, it barely stumbles. The only weak point on the album is the cover of Des'ree's "You Gotta Be". Not because it's bad. But because it feels tacked on. The album didn't need it. It should've ended with "Love Takeover".

Whilst Claude Kelly puts it down on each of these songs, I could also imagine a female singing some of them. "No Regrets" reminds me of a song from Patrice Rushen's "Now" album, and it's not hard to imagine her singing this song. "All In My Feelings" and "Love Takeover" sound like a Phil Collins songs, but I can imagine Brandy singing them because of the ways in which the vocals are arranged. I listen to "Teach Me a Song" and I can imagine Kelly Clarkson on it. It makes me think about the way in which these songs were conceived, and if Louis York envisioned them going beyond themselves, and having lives with other artists, which wouldn't be the biggest surprise given that most of Kelly and Harmony's careers have been writing and producing for others. And so much of American Griots generally feels border-less.

What makes American Griots such a fun album is that it is just that. It's fun. And it also feels like an album that only Claude Kelly and Chick Harmony could make without it coming off as contrived.  Louis York have managed to make an album that will get of course get classified as Soul and R&B, but can sit under Pop too. Some people may be precious about how and where their music gets categorised. Pop has negative connotations, where as R&B has credible ones. But music isn't just good because it's R&B. And music isn't just bad because it's Pop. Good music is good music, and American Griots happens to be an album which does R&B and Pop really fucking well.

The crazy thing with American Griots is that it's one of the few albums which managed to do everything that I wanted it to. Even down to weird, super specific things like me wanting the songs 6 minutes long and switch completely in the last minute or so, kinda like how songs did on Justin Timberfake's FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience. And the damn songs fucking did that. Like...bitch, EXCUSE ME?!

American Griots is a solid album, which delivers great hooks, great melodies, says 'Fuck the rules' and presents a cohesive body of work which unfortunately went unnoticed in 2019.

👍🏾 Great Pop songs which ring with familiarity

👎🏾 The album shoulda closed with "Love Takeover"

VERDICT: FEELS LIKE VELVET

Highlights:
■ All In My Feelings
■ No Regrets 🏆
■ Electric Blue
■ Teach Me a Song
■ How Will I feel
■ Don't You Forget
■ Velvet

■ I Wonder
■ Love Takeover