Photos by Blahnik & Westwater

With as powerful a voice as Naomi Westwater’s, you’d want to firmly establish your presence on a new body of work. What better way than to deliver a haunting acapella vocal section to kick off your new EP? That’s the strategy Westwater operates with on “Home,” the opening track of her latest release Feelings. It’s a hauntingly beautiful delivery: her vocal control is excellent, her emotiveness hits deep, but her words – ”my body is not my home” – resonate as an intense expression of frustration, in this case with a self-perceived betrayal of one’s own body. Westwater, who has endometriosis, was in a great deal of pain when writing the song. “Home”’s juxtaposition of bodies and souls finds a way to grapple with that pain by identifying very firmly with her own soul as being a greater force than her body. What makes the track even more irresistible is when the band joins in for a stomping, blues-rock anthem that feels like a gleeful howl at times, rejecting the limitations of the physical and embracing a more ethereal existence. 

Over the course of the tracks, Westwater finds little moments to add some dynamic variation to her vocal delivery, even a flair for the dramatic. She often yips, yelps, or sings in a exalted whisper, adding character and surprise to her vocalizations. She’s got the vocal chops to get away with more mundane and basic melodies, but Westwater very rarely takes the simple path, allowing her vocal melodies to meander in soulful, jazzy runs. Much of this release feels like Westwater giving us a taste of the American songbook filtered through her own experience. She’s equally adept at blues, soul, jazz, and even a little country-fried balladry with “Strange Weather,” a not-so-subtle missive on the climate crisis. 

Feelings Cover Art

While plenty of what Westwater does is understated, she doesn’t leave time for subtlety in the topics she addresses. She doesn’t back down from singing about personal struggles and how they find their shape among the web of social concerns in the U.S. Pain stemming from medical issues flows into spiritual questioning surrounding the existence of a higher power which flows into ecological concern before she closes off the EP exploring mixed-race identity. To close the release, Westwater opted to include her cover of “Strange Fruit,” which has become an American standard, especially at times of crisis and duress when it comes to this country’s sordid relationship with race. For a track that has been covered by the likes of legendary vocalists like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone, Westwater doesn’t shy away from the challenge of putting her own stamp on it. The loose, sometimes chaotic instrumentation compliments her haunting high notes. 

Vocals aside, the EP also finds a great deal of power in the skillful instrumentation provided by Westwater’s band, the mixing of Daniel Babai (Dephrase), and Westwater’s crisp production. The band for the album- made up of Alex Chacon on guitar, Dana Roth on bass, and Francis Pena on drums (plus a few others here and there) – sound comfortable matching Naomi’s energy track by track, genre by genre. While listening, there’s a residual feeling that this is a collection of songs that are itching to get live renditions; luckily, Westwater will perform at an EP release show at Club Passim on Tuesday, September 7th. 

Listen to Naomi Westwater’s Feelings EP below via Spotify.