Album Review: The Womack Sisters by The Womack Sisters
Ten years after a mutual friend introduced them to Daptone, the Los Angeles trio filled their self-titled debut with fares owed, ruined weeks, and men who talk too well.
Sisters to Zekkariyas and Zeriiya, known collectively as Womack & Womack, were raised singing backup behind their parents with their four brothers in country after country. A common acquaintance brought Kucha, Zeimani, and BG Womack into the studio with Gabriel Roth in 2016. The session was recorded at Daptone’s Penrose Studios in Riverside. It took the Los Angeles-based trio most of the following decade to release these songs. Money and the hours women spend with men who possess it are the themes they came away with in their music. All three sisters sing as different women, one at a time.
The first song places her in the driver’s seat, with him in the passenger seat. The only thing she has from that night is the tip she received. Her passenger and his companion board the car at Melrose and Vine, grinning from ear to ear and sloshing wine, and she takes them through town to wherever they wish to go. Another sip, she urges him to take, and don’t forget the tip since he is just another fare. In “Chauffeur,” the issue becomes how many miles need burning and how many corners need turning, and eventually the corners become pennies to make. She waits outside the chicest venue in town while he dresses up nicely and his date is to the nines and laughs and giggles in her rearview mirror as if she weren’t there. Sessions with Bosco Mann produced these records, save “You Went Away Too Long,” which bears Gabriel Roth’s name. Behind the phrase “Just to keep my place,” what is returned to her is the name of her job title. The bridge of this song allows her to indulge in a fantasy of replacing his position, being in his car, and serving his caviar. Until then, it is Friday night, she has a couple of bills left, and she has to pay her rent.
In an interview statement with Rolling Stone magazine, Kucha Womack stated that the song “If I Let You” brings back memories of her rushing toward attraction “not asking enough questions, not staying true to myself.” The woman in the final recording raises all such questions. She can read his talk and angelic sighs, and his “I L-O-V-E you” isn’t in accordance with his devilish eyes. She is not suggesting that he messed things up, only that he knew about it. Words used in his fancy, eloquent speech are worthless and meant for birds only, she says, and she is ready to have her pot stirred anyway.
At twelve o’clock, the woman in “Monster” begins to get lost and dives into darkness: “Into the dark, I delve.” She knows that she is not a monster, since she used to have love in her heart, and after he left her cold, that heart froze until it seemed as if she had never known anything like feeling at all. In the middle of the night, the woman turns to a fright, thoughts dark as coal, a black hole where her soul used to burn. On “All Around,” he has stung her and disappeared, and the memory of this pain is still hanging over her head. She cannot stop playing around his place. If she closes her eyes, everything else disappears, and she has nothing to do but plunge into the darkness, and his hand is holding hers.
Seasons replace the addresses in “I Am Your Season.” She is autumn leaves fallen in love with him, the summer wind that whispered it, winter touch that went down his spine, spring eyes watching the blossoming of their love, and she will be all four seasons for him since nobody would love him more. She gives him the sunshine to warm him, the winter winds to cool him, the summer rains to shower him with love. In the other lyrics, the street, the weekday, the telephone, and the rent to be paid appear. In this song, four seasons are given instead of any address.
Mr. Wrong says goodbye to Mrs. Right in “I Just Don’t Want You (To Say Goodbye).” He missed his day, she left that night, and the woman who tells the story knows that she is neither right nor wrong. Her knees are weak; she is wrapped in this love and free in many ways, and she stops mid-verse to ask him what he is trying to say to her. The men in these songs lie or leave, and the decision belongs to her. The Womack Sisters are out on the Constellation Tour with Thee Sacred Souls and LA LOM, across the United States and Canada, and on the evening when these songs come out, they play at the opening of Al Green at the Hollywood Bowl. The woman (and their top-tier vocals) they will be singing about is a little short on money, with corners left to turn.
Great (★★★★☆)
Favorite Track(s): “Chauffeur,” “Monster,” “Laughter and Tears”