The debut full-length album from Yola, titled Walk Through Fire showcases her phenomenal vocals over lush retro-pop and light soul/country arraignments. Produced by Dan Auerbach with songs co-written by Yola, Auerbach, Bobby Wood, Pat McLaughlin and Dan Penn the album is a throwback to Nashville’s 60’s sound even going so far to recruit Wood who played piano with Elvis and Dave Roe who played bass with Johnny Cash.
Auerbach has been wading in these waters for a few albums now (his own Waiting On A Song, and Shannon Shaw’s Shannon In Nashville) but he has not worked with a vocal talent like Yola before as she luxuriates in the opulent musical surroundings. The opening song “Faraway Look” is a stunner, with her vocals soaring into the stratosphere around dynamic orchestral strings, harpsichord, crisp drumming and Broadway level drama. The gauntlet is thrown down directly at the start and while the following songs are all strong, nothing tops this dynamite performance.
A pleasant shuffle “Shady Grove” is more restrained vocally but chock full of surrounding instrumentation before the first single “Ride Out In The Country” delivers a sunny easy groove. The Nashville pop country of “It Ain’t Easier” fits Yola perfectly as her low key head shaking humming is just as affecting as her heartfelt straining pleas and falsetto flights which follow; a gorgeous tune.
While Yola is a survivor, the songwriting stays more surface level on the slow twang of the title track, never catching fire. “Keep Me Here” talks about flawed relationships but musically piles on the schmaltz, overdoing it towards adult contemporary while “Rock Me Gently” seems to be caught between genres and never fully coalesces. These are minor quibbles though and don’t detract from the overall strength of this debut record.
“Love All Night (Work All Day)” gloriously melds gospel vocals with easy countrified 70’s Los Angeles sound, throwback “Lonely the Night” feels like a ‘20’s jazz song spectacularly redone and the production rich “Deep Blue Dream” stays warm and enveloping. Yola shines on all tracks, she is the rare singer who doesn’t feel the need to display her powerhouse voice to its maximum affect each time out; sure she can blow the songs away with her pipes but displaying restraint and intimacy can be just as exciting.
The sweet brightness of “Love Is Light”, complete with dazzling rising horns, wraps up the impressive first offering from Yola as she announces to the world’s stage that she is a talent to be noticed immediately. Working with Auerbach and company fuses the robust production and instrumentation with her vocal charms making Walk Through Fire a rousing success on all fronts.
