Jake Shears [CD]

2018 release. Showcasing the essence of what Jake Shears does best, the eponymously titled solo debut from the Scissor Sisters frontman is an album brimming with anthemic choruses and lyrics about the joys and vagaries of love and sex - all of it underpinned by a swampy soul influence imparted from his newly adopted hometown New Orleans. Shears' artistic vision blossomed in the epicenter of Southern decadence, where he had headed following the Scissors hiatus in 2012. Initial ideas for the album were mapped out at the city's famed Marigny Studios before he decamped to Louisville, KY to work with producer Kevin Ratterman (Ray LaMontagne, My Morning Jacket) who recruited members of My Morning Jacket, VHS or Beta, Jim James' solo band, and Floating Action to lay down the album's foundation. With string and brass arrangements by Christian Hebel (Barbra Streisand) and Lance Horne (Alan Cumming), they returned to NOLA to capture the city's signature sound with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Sturgill Simpson's brass section. The result is a thrilling work that plays inside some of the hallmarks of classic American rock music and marries them with Jake's inimitable point of view, humor, and gift for unforgettable hooks.