Written by K. Barrett

Sharon Jones has done it again.

‘If You Call’ stings like the ringing memory of a heart carved in a tree. Anyone who has ever loved and lost recognizes the helplessness in Jones’ wail. It’s the ringing potential of a number that will not be dialed. It’s the deafening silence of a phone that will not click. As my grandma would say, it is “the coffin nail.”

Jones’ performance is so wrought with emotion that her every phrase paints a master portrait of heartache. Her intonation is warped by years of lost love and wasted memory, boiled down to a voice that drips the devoted dissipation in which every legend has stirred his or her bones. This is soul.

If raw human experience and emotion don’t captivate you, consider the presence of a supporting cast that continually rewrite the book on taste and style with every new release. Look no further than that crawling guitar riff. The Dap Kings spiral up your spine to command your sensibilities.

Not in my generation has a singer and their group been so in tune with each other and well suited for one another. As their esteemed collaboration deepens its own notch, they inch closer to etching their own names into legend.

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Download — Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings – “If You Call”

Buy I Learned The Hard Way @ The Daptone Records e-store.