Atlanta’s Leon Bridges discography path has been an evolutionary experience of audio joy! On July 23rd of this year, his latest album, Gold-Diggers Sound, made it’s debut to the world. To no surprise, there are a number of tracks that can be put on a loop. This album has eleven tracks on it, and was recorded in LA’s Gold-Diggers Hotel and sound studio (Gold-Diggers Hotel is a story of it’s own).
"the most eclectic compositions of Bridges' career, as well as his most emotionally transparent songwriting"
This track is the jewel of the album, in my opinion. And that’s saying a lot, as there’s been a gang of overwhelmingly positive reviews to the album by Rolling Stone Magazine, Clash Magazine, The Observer, among many others.
To note a few quotes from reviews on the album, The Guardian called it “a remarkable and progressive R&B album”, while The Independent said “the record is a confident immersion into a genre he’s only toyed with before. And just as Good Thing never fully sacrificed Bridges’ style, neither does Gold-Digger forget his roots”
I highly recommend listening to the “Steam” live performance that Leon put together on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (linked above), as it has a fresh contrast to the studio recording. Bridges surrounds himself with a plethora of talented musicians who knock it out of the park in this live performance. The set that was selected for this live track is beyond eye-catching, and everyone involved in the sound are absolutely in their element.
This live recording of “Steam” originally aired on the Thursday, July 22nd Tonight Show episode. It was followed up five days later on ABC’s Good Morning America with an abridged live version of the track.
“‘Gold-Diggers’ was, you know, this experience of kind of living in and creating music in this space was very significant to me”, said Bridges. “Everything on ‘Gold-Diggers Sound’ was born in the studio. Prior to this, you know, I mostly made music during the day. And we’ve felt like we hit this wall creatively, and wanted to kind of see, like, what would transpire out of doing this whole nocturnal hang. Bringing in the tequila and bringing in some of our creative musicians to kind of cultivate this kind of unique R&B thing. It definitely unlocked something special.”
Clear some space, hit play, and ask your lovely to dance to this one.
I dance to that song all the time….❤️ Love it!