Even back in the early 2000s when Daptone were kicking off the deep funk and soul resurgence with Sharon Jones, there was a rival to the crown of new soul queen. That would have been Nicole Willis who, while not as prolific as Jones and the Dap Kings, can lay claim to a output of equal quality, in the company of her band The Soul Investigators. And so we might well ask, ‘But Ms Willis – where are you now?’ and she might well answer by pointing to the slow-burning B-side of her forthcoming single coincidentally titled Where Are You Now? or perhaps more pertinently to the mid-tempo A-side stomp Paint Me In A Corner which reveals that the years have taken no toll on the soul – or the horns, come to that. A third album is in the offing later this year.
(Out 4 May on Timmion Records)