IF you're gonna tackle soul music, it has to emerge from a deep place. It's gotta be authentic. Fakes are spotted from 100 yards.
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Melbourne singer-songwriter Shannon Busch, known professionally as Wilsn, might be young but it's obvious from her debut album Those Days Are Over that soul is no trend to be followed.
This is a genuine nod to that classically warm and melodic '60s Motown sound that continues to captivate audiences more than half a century later.
You only have to point to The Tesky Brothers' overwhelming success in recent years to understand that '60s-inspired soul remains as popular as ever.
It's not surprising Busch has toured extensively with the Teskey Brothers and Josh Teskey duets with her on the album closer Hurts So Bad.
Busch was raised on her father's love of jazz icons Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday and her mother's appreciation of R'n'B heroes Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder, and those influences stuck.
Unlike contemporaries like Meg Mac, Busch hasn't been tempted to adopt modern electronic samples and arrangements in her sound.
Rather she's relied on the warmth of a horns section and live band to provide the background colour for her powerful vocal, that commands attention at every turn.
This is most evident on the touching Hurts So Bad and bar-room piano blues of Too Sober For Words.
The jazzy You Know Better would sit nicely on Amy Winehouse's Back To Black album and Tell Me is pure pop bliss.
Those Days Are Over also knows how to rock. The opening If You Wanna Love Me is a stomping march propelled along by a strident guitar and bass before Busch's vocal explodes over the top.
Critics might point to the fact that Busch's brand of soul-pop doesn't reinvent wheel, instead she puts fresh air in the tyres.
While that's true, Busch's voice and pop smarts can't be denied.
Those Days Are Over is a highly impressive debut from an exciting new Australian voice.
Wilsn's got soul. Real deep.
4 stars