Music Review // ZZ Ward "Liberation"

If you've been listening to each single released by ZZ Ward leading up to "Liberation" then you are not only excited for this album coming out but also you will recognize the first song on here, which is quite the anthem to kick it off in "Mother".   Everything ZZ Ward does on here seems deliberate.  Each note, the order of the songs and the way which each song sound all come together to create one overall vibe which says that this is the blues and these fourteen ways for it to come out in musical form.

"My Baby Left Me" has these jazzy cymbals and a faster pace and based on the title alone, yes, this is a great blues song.  Which sweet distorted guitar riffs all around, we go into the sadder, much more blues-heavy song "I Have No One", which can remind me a bit of Joe Cocker.  "Cadillac Man" has this great driving feel to the music but also is singing about driving a car.  Like that one song everyone knows by Steppenwolf, this song was just made for the road.

Another single released prior to the album, "Love Alive", brings familiarity next and then we go into that slow turn of another single on "Naked In The Jungle".  The titular track on has that big soul and reminds me of falling for some reason, though it could also have been a part of the "Birds of Prey" soundtrack, which I love so much.  "Lioness" has some funk with these scratchy futuristic guitar sounds and it touches upon the subject of motherhood as well.  

From the sounds of the guitars to the harmonica to the way that the piano comes in and takes over on "Sinner's Prayer", ZZ Ward just takes every opportunity to showcase the blues from every angle.  The blues is a feeling, yes, but it also has these different aspects to it where it isn't just one specific sound but can have piano or horns.  "Liberation" is a master class in demonstrating that the blues is multifaceted and those complexities can be found in every aspect on this album.