Back in 1997, Joan Wasser's then boyfriend, Jeff Buckley, disappeared after swimming in a river, never to return. Whether coincidentally or not it was around this time that Wasser started writing her own songs, after spending almost all her previous life as a musician and performer of other people’s work. Firstly as a classical performer but then as violinist for hire, her outward personality and art-punkish hair earning her gigs with the likes of Elton John, Rufus Wainwright and many others. Meanwhile the much younger Benjamin Lazar Davis regularly performs with the likes of American alt-indie bands Okkervil River and Cuddle Magic, as well as recently putting out an EP with Lake Street Dive's Brigite Kearney.

They apparently met over a shared love of Central African pygmy musical patterns. You'd struggle to hear that, as this deeply electronic album is stuffed full of contemporary techno-urban-soul-pop. It’s also a little bit edgy and off-beat, Wasser in particular enhancing her credentials as a forward thinking and deeply thoughtful artist. Perhaps she could have continued down the road of the Motown-inspired, brass-infused soul-pop of 2014’s The Classic but with Davis she has embraced a stronger experimental alt-pop bent than ever before.

It’s a record that is full of superb vocal performances, from both Wasser and Davis, but also featuring plenty of big, upfront drum beats and glitchy electronics, an air of experimentation permeating throughout. It's all epitomised by lead track ‘Broke Me In Two’, a song that saw the light of day last year via a video that features comedy actor and big music lover Fred Armisen (SNL / Portlandia). Here, jittery electronics, big shuffling beats, a piano motif and dual vocal action provide the backdrop for the lyrics about everlasting love: "Sitting here thinking 'bout you / About the way your hands took me with you / And I will never, I'll never hesitate / Because you broke me in two." Wasser's soulful voice has always been elastic and sprightly and here again she shows it off to great effect.

Davis takes lead vocal duties on ‘Overloaded’, an ever-so-slightly r'n'b inflected slow groove. His urban soul voice, underpinned by a constantly ascending single note piano, sledgehammer beat and the same sounding glitchy electronics as ‘Broke Me In Two’, while deep bass and a depth-charge big-beat carries Wassers's voice and electric piano on ‘Magic Lamp’. Here, as on almost everything else, the duo sing harmonies on the chorus, complimenting and not trying to out-do each other. The title track ‘Let It Be You’ is vocally adventurous in true Wasser spirit, sprightly and gently coil-springed, underpinned by some equally adventurous percussive beats, gurgling electronics and handclaps.

Things get a little bit one-dimensional on ‘Hurts So Bad’, ’Satellite’ and ‘Easy Money’, the songs lacking the strong melodies of the first four. The crunchy beats and all-round experimental ethos not hitting the nails on their respective heads. But, it’s all turned around in time for the closers, beginning with Violent Dove, whose late night, slowed down urban vibe features that securing electronic motif of the first two tracks, before finishing off with what appears to be a tagged on harmony invocation, “This is the blood of love”, repeated a few times, before segueing into an an album highlight, ‘Motorway’. Davis takes the lead here, his drowsy vocal reminiscent of Fink and Ry X, complimenting the other-worldly techs-beats, while final track, ‘Station’ continues the slow down night-drawing-in soundscape of Motorway via Wasser’s whispered lullaby and repeating electric guitar motif. You can audibly hear the long intakes of breath before each line, as she reaches for the upper register, the song closing out with ascending strings and more, big and upfront crashing beats. It’s the only time on Let It Be You that Wasser indulges in a song continuously flowing along a groove after the ‘song’ has finished, a feature of much of her past work.

Let It Be You is another demonstration of Wasser's quietly confident way of searching for new collaborators, musical directions and sounds, whilst retaining that sometimes underrated soulful voice of hers, a constant feature of her work. Over the course of her last four albums she's collaborated with Anthony & The Johnsons, Rufus Wainwright and Fishbone's Chris Dowd, as well as producing label mates and outright folkies, Lau on last year's The Bell That Never Rang album. She's got it all, it seems; outstanding multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, singer and producer.
Jeff Hemmings