A modern torch record, Michelle Brooke’s new EP Let the Light In (due April 10th) gets into the intricacies of love and loss with soul-infused style and aplomb. It’s neo-R&B with a big, beating heart, and doesn’t shrink from confronting the pain of those relationships – those matters of the heart – that define us. But the pain is balanced with optimism, making Let the Light In a record about light and dark, desire and regret. Now a Nashvillian who has shared the stage with notables like Lady Antebellum’s Charles Kelley, Brooke is currently an integral part of the famed house band at Nashville’s celebrated Lower Broadway venue Acme Feed and Seed. You can hear the experience: Michelle brings serious vocal and songwriting chops to her latest release.
Michelle has indeed found her place in the hyper-competitive Nashville music scene. In 2019 alone, she sang background vocals for a multi-artist benefit show at the Ryman Auditorium, learning 30 songs in two days for the event. This super-professional versatility, and Michelle’s well-honed musicality as a singer and songwriter, informs Let the Light In.
Recorded at Nashville’s Sputnik Sound studio with producer Mitch Dane, Let the Light In proves the concept of torch records, which includes classic albums like Dusty Springfield’s Memphis-recorded 1969 album Dusty in Memphis and Mandy Barnett’s I’ve Got a Right to Cry, is alive and well in Nashville. T
Let the Light In gathers Michelle Brooke’s experiences, which range from singing soul and R&B with a multitude of Nashville bands to honing her craft as a leading lady on Carnival Cruise Line. She grew up in Michigan, a natural performer who loved music and singing, especially with her many musical family members. She moved to New York in 2007 to pursue musical theater, travelled the world as a singer on Carnival Ships in 2010, and then relocated to Nashville in summer 2016.
Let the Light In establishes Michelle Brooke as a singular new voice in modern pop. She’ll be on the road this year with new songs and old, and look for her at Acme Feed & Seed and other fine Nashville venues. For Michelle, the darkness never obscures the light of her inspiration.
In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, Glide is premiering Michelle Brooke’s “Find Your Love” a riveting and soulful workout with gritty jazz and funk flourishes. Brooke carries the graceful rock n soul of Grace Potter and Susan Tedeschi while discovering her own unique flair of neo-soul on this breakout track.
“I wrote this song during a time when I was searching for confidence and faith in myself,” says Brooke. “I was coping with a loss of self-esteem that I believe was largely due to the amount of time I was spending on social media comparing myself to other peoples’ journeys and feeling the pressure of standing out and fitting in all at the same time. I wrote, “Find Your Love” as a love letter to myself, and a reminder that I am enough.
“I am infinitely influenced by Sara Bareilles, and at the time of writing this tune, I had been listening to her record The Blessed Unrest, which I felt contained a lot of symbolism about starting over,” adds Brooke. “I admired the dark tones on the record that were cloaked in an upbeat message. There are also a few tracks that she wrote with indie-pop king Jack Antonoff, who is adamant that a song doesn’t have to be “one [thing] or the other.” Rolling Stone used the term “therapy rock” when writing about his work with Bleachers, and I can relate to that for the heavier themes in this song that you can still find yourself dancing to. “Find Your Love” is in a minor key, and my band lovingly refers to it as a “happy/sad” song, which is definitely a theme of my EP.”
Top Photo By Cal & Aly, second photo by Aliegh Shields
