Play Lady. Play!

Terrie Walker and Nicole Wray are kindred spirits born several decades too late. Under the moniker Lady, this duo has gathered eleven soul-infused tracks for their self-titled debut album. Their shared love of  ’60s/’70s soul brought these two together and Lady is a testament to that era.

“Tell The Truth” opens the LP in a fashion that would make Sam Cooke proud. From the first lyric “Oh my man he makes me worry sometime,” the sincerity in their voices convinces you that this isn’t merely a retro gimmick. “Money” is the type of poppy song Diana Ross would have loved to have recorded, it would have been a top ten hit for sure back in the golden age of  soul.

Both Walker and Wray sing their hearts out track after track, but one other component that makes Lady work as wonderfully as it does is the production and the talented musicians gathered to recreate a genre that today mostly exists in your granddad’s vinyl collection. The horns on “Good Lovin” add that big band depth that is absent in most modern music. The strings and drums on “Karma” bring the emotion back to the ballads. This album does for soul music what any period piece movie tries to do, and that’s recapture the magic of a decade long forgotten and make it as if you are living in it now.

It’s a shame that the odds of Lady garnishing the accolades it deserves are pretty low. This album from beginning to end is better than most contemporary pop artists’ Best Of collections. For a debut album, these two have dovetailed their voices together so perfectly that they can only grow better with any future endeavors.