The Future and the Past

Whilst they were delightful first time out, here they are strikingly more interesting, effortlessly more versatile, and ultimately more complex and layered the more you listen to it.

Faced with the unexpected, Prass evolved, trading inward-facing confessionalism for outward-facing perseverance and releasing one of 2018’s minor masterpieces in the process. Plus, you can most certainly dance to it.

To put it more simply, the record rocks and offers insightful commentary on the world we inhabit.

The result is an impressive step forward, an album that finds Natalie Prass straddling the border between the future and the past, just as she promised.

With increasingly assured songwriting, Natalie Prass demonstrates that she is on top of her game in the here and now.

Her talent for writing great ballads à la Dusty Springfield is still evident, too, on ‘Lost’ and, of course, ‘Far From You’--completing the sonic palette of a magnificent pop album.

It’s bold stuff, but if you were taking any solace that the Trump catastrophe would at least inspire some great art, The Future And The Past serves as Exhibit A.

There is evolution on The Future and the Past and a real sense that Prass has done what she set out to do: make an album that, like the work of Marvin Gaye, gets people thinking and resolving to take action, all the while shaking their hips to the undeniable groove.

She's quite literally found her groove, nicking pieces of '70s and '80s pop and R&B to give the tracks, performed once again by producer Matthew E. White and his Spacebomb Studio's crack house band, a bit more swing. Though they lack the natural funkiness of say, the Dap Kings, the crew once again deftly evoke the past without ever inhabiting it, creating a record that, while conceivably could exist in any moment in time, still feels modern.

Prass’s voice and writing are more than capable of handling the stylistic shift she’s initiated: indeed, they frequently feel liberated by it.

The Future And The Past is a journey of self-discovery brimming with hope and grooves made to help Prass and her listeners find optimism.

The result is a surprisingly jubilant follow-up, with the Richmond, Virginia-based singer-songwriter largely disposing of her delicate sound in favour of groove, R&B and '80s pop. [Jul 2018, p.116]

While Prass's gossamer tone is still light and distinctive. The moods, textures and themes, however, have evolved. [Jul 2018, p.35]

The Future and the Past is a triumph, a coming-of-age that over-delivers on all Prass promised, and suggests limitless skies in answer to where she might go next. [Jul 2018, p.86]

If the midpoint between The Future and the Past is modernity, Natalie Prass nails it.

Listening as Prass struggles through the muck, what’s clear is that The Future and the Past is really about the present--about finding ways to push through each day without giving over to despondency. This ship may be going down, but these songs are another set of buoys fighting to keep it afloat.

The Future and the Past has a glossy, nostalgic sheen, but that only makes Prass' messages about getting past the world's current ills land harder.