AA Williams Following up on last year’s album “Forever Blue” with her latest release, “Songs From Isolation”, a collection of songs she recorded during her first lockdown of 2020. Third album. Williams’ is a record made up entirely of covers, many of which were requested by her fans last March. Not sure when AA accepted the requests that would then become the main part of her new album, she thought we would be in the same situation almost 12 months later.
‘Songs From Isolation’ is AA Williams taking iconic, beloved songs and giving them a performance of her own personality and nuance. Williams’ comes to each song she chooses to cover from a new angle and from a different angle from the original. Each song is reinterpreted and they all have a fragility that you can’t help but listen more attentively.
The multi-talented self-taught cellist, pianist, singer-songwriter and guitarist rebuilt the tracks in ‘Songs From Isolation’ from the ground up and added only subtle but effective touches. Best.
The Cure’s ‘Lovesong’, played on piano, is a haunting rendition, slowed down from the original, as are most of the nine tracks on the album, making the lyrics even more resonant. . Vocalist AA Williams has an unfathomable anxiety about it, as if she’s living through the emotions of the song as she sings. Her version of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ‘Into My Arms’ was also arrested for the same reason. AA’s lightness in transmission coupled with AA’s well-calculated restraint immerses you in every word she sings.
After years of classical studies, AA Williams can bring something to every song that many other artists, including the original author, may not even have taken into account. Williams’ take on ‘Be Quite And Drive (Far Away)’ by Deftones is a case in point. The original was a sonic assault of heavy guitars and rhythmic percussion. The Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Porcelina Of The Vast Oceans’ takes a similar, but inconsistent, path. The original may have a slow and steady intro that puts you on the wrong track but when the song starts it’s all about gunfire, guitars darting around to the beat of tribe. Williams’ love for “all the heavy stuff” dates back to her introduction of Deftones years earlier, so she’s very familiar with the material but has chosen a very different way to interpret each. the song. Her cover of Deftones is a majestic success of extended notes and ethereal vocals that have hitherto been so far removed from the original that it’s barely recognizable.
Throughout the entire album, AA Williams creates each song her own, from the Pixies’ beautiful cover of ‘Where Is My Mind’, released as a single late last year, to her interpretation of the song. Nine Inch Nails ‘Everyday Is Exactly The Same’ . It’s hard to remake someone else’s song and get it right once, but to get there nine times is no small feat. ‘Songs Of Isolation’ may have arisen due to restrictions put in place due to the global disaster but it made for a set of the best interpreted songs you can imagine.
