- “Lush”. A word that reviewers love to toss around, especially in the company of “arrangements” or “production values”, and like all reviewers’ words it gets overused. A few weeks ago Chaka Khan brought out her best work in years with an album harking back to her glory days of soul, disco, funk and smoky RnB, and Australian chanteuse Chelsea Wilson, has created (not literally, but nonetheless, very effectively) an antipodean accompaniment to one of the most enjoyable albums of 2019 so far.
Chasing Gold charts a course direct from her debut album I Hope You’ll Be Very Unhappy Without Me, which racked up some impressive kudos in 2014. Disco has a bad name in many musical circles, and rightly so. (Ethel Merman’s disco album anyone?) At its worst it was formulaic, trite and repetitive, At its best however it ha soul, RnB and funk roots that gave it real gravitas, underpinning the spirit of joy it could unleash and it was a vehicle for mostly female vocalists (many of them women of colour). While Wilson doesn’t claim that heritage, her musical history and vocal style owes much to women like Chaka Khan, Donna Summer, Marcia Hines, Gloria Gaynor and Thelma Houston.
The other legacy she can lay claim to is in the production here, by ARIA nominated composer / bassist Ross McHenry (The Shaolin Afronauts), with string orchestration arranged by Ross Irwin (The Bamboos) who are just two of the high quality collection of people working with Wilson. This is an album that many will be surprised was recorded and mixed in Australia, such is its international sound. Oh and Wilson co-produced with McHenry and either wrote solely or in collaboration every track on Chasing Gold, except for one cover. The surprising addition is a Stock, Aitken & Waterman track Word Is Out from Kylie Minogue’s 1991, Let’s Get To It.
From the opening Chasing Gold Introduction (seems to be a trend of late, bands putting in a short “prologue” of sorts), the album hits its stride immediately with the first single Real Love and from there it’s a groove-train-esque ride, especially the six minute Give You Up which makes you want to do anything but that, not overstaying its welcome at all. The title track is definitely a “gold” standard of the genre and Wilson doesn’t shy away from including numbers with lyrics that address contemporary issues such as domestic violence on Breaking Down and Nothing Can Come Between This Love Tonight dedicated to the survivors of the ‘Pulse’ night club Orlando, Florida massacre of 2016, celebrating equal love and the rights of the diverse in gender and sexuality community.
Ending on a more traditional soul / funk stomper I Won’t Choose You, Wilson’s voice hasn’t wavered at all, it’s powerfully strong, even if her style of singing is at the higher end of the register than some of the great divas of the genre may have sounded; she has a striking similarity to Anita Ward (of ‘Ring My Bell’ fame). It’s good to hear Australian musicians tackling a style -that can end up as so much uninspiring cheese- in a commanding and effective way. Wilson richly deserves all the accolades she’s collected so far in her career, and Chasing Gold is only going to add more. Lush just wouldn't do it justice.
- Blair Martin.