Acey Duecy

Album Review

Acey Duecy, Anthony David's first release with major-label backing, is the product of some payback from India.Arie. The longtime friends go back further than the latter's debut, Acoustic Soul, which featured a song ("Part of My Life") written by the former. Seven years later, Arie's clout has allowed her to establish a Universal-distributed boutique label called Soulbird, and its first release is this, a disc that pulls material from Anthony's independent releases 3 Chords & the Truth (2004) and The Red Clay Chronicles (2006). While he cites Bill Withers and Donny Hathaway, Anthony (last name Harrington, middle name David) is more a descendent of Terry Callier — at least on the surface, through the tone of a rough-hewn baritone that often shines through with a relaxed intensity recalling Callier, as well as frequent use of acoustic guitar. His lyrics, also like those of Callier, can be descriptively up-front and all the more powerful for it. But he's his own artist who creates a unique mixture of vintage and modern sounds, from "Cheatin' Man" and "Cold Turkey" (stark simplicity made predominantly with voice and guitar), to "Lady" (an original that sounds too good to be anything but an update of a forgotten mid-'70s classic by a group like Enchantment or Floaters), to the Southern hip-hop boom-and-bounce of "Kinfolk." Further range is shown between the high-flying "Something About You" (it's remarkable how much this Level 42 song was made to resemble Deniece Williams' "Free," whether intentional or not) and the quietly pissed-off "Krooked Kop" ("Your royal order of fraternal brothers is really just a gang"). The past several years indicate that, unless this release should happen to go platinum (not likely), Anthony will get maybe one more shot (if that) prior to reverting back to the independent route. Regardless, this set should help add further growth to a following that will be paying attention for some time to come.