The touchstones here, such as Dusty in Memphis, are all records that revel in a particular kind of musicality, yet this is a record that never feels retro, just timeless.
One of the most fully realized and confident debuts in recent memory, Natalie Prass is an expertly sequenced and executed work that transforms decades of American music tradition into something relevant to the 21st century.
Natalie Prass is a break-up album that doesn’t wallow; it’s the most realistic take on relationships you’ll have heard in a long time.
It makes for a glorious companion to Björk’s Vulnicura but also stands as a confident, masterly debut album in its own right.
Every lyric is perfectly finished off by a musical accent and every instrument is strategically placed in the right place, all coming together to pull on those heartstrings harder than ever.
The rich production and ambitious, multi-faceted arrangements provided by White’s Spacebomb crew are the perfect foil for Prass’s soft, exquisite voice and expressive, tear-stained songs, such that the overwhelming impression of the LP is, against the odds, one of triumph.
What makes it good is her sophisticated ear for pop arrangements. What sets it apart is her gracefully authoritative, hyper-emotive, and at times semi-animal personality brought out through a masterfully controlled and gloriously weird set of pipes.
Natalie Prass marks a solid entrance from an assured new talent; it's an absolutely lovely soul record, shot through with the wistfulness of heartbreak country.
While the tracks rarely challenge the listener with bold experimentation or chord progressions that range much beyond major-and-minor resolves, Natalie Prass provides a concise amalgamation of R&B, funk, baroque pop, and soul with a consistent through-line.
Natalie Prass is the work of a distinctive new artist with a vision that embraces past and present, merging strength and vulnerability to powerful effect.
Natalie Prass shows she’s got the complex stuff down pat, but getting back to the basics might be the next stage of development that takes her to another level.
Virginia singer-songwriter Natalie Prass has sung backup for Jenny Lewis, and there's more than a passing resemblance to Lewis in the sweet, sunny heartbreak songs on Prass' debut LP.
Prass’s winsome coo is a beautiful instrument, and the way her melodies dance and soar can be sublime, but the lyrics fall just a little short of the level that everything else on the record achieves effortlessly.
#7 | / | Paste |
#8 | / | Uncut |
#9 | / | American Songwriter |
#13 | / | Under the Radar |
#17 | / | FasterLouder |
#19 | / | Consequence of Sound |
#21 | / | Diffuser |
#22 | / | Rough Trade |
#26 | / | Stereogum |
#28 | / | PopMatters |