Cassie Holt and The Lost Souls: “Curvy Girl” – soulful and impeccable
These days, it seems anyone can make an R&B record. However, recording a soul track takes that special intangible element that not all have. Cassie of Cassie Holt and The Lost Souls, offers cadences that move in an affable manner as she declares her sense of self-worth on her latest single release, “Curvy Girl” which tackles the theme of body positivity. She never rushes the pace. She intones in different ways to let the song build in complexity. Think of it as the aural equivalent of a Lego set. One can use the simple bricks in different styles and colors to make something that stands out as special. And singer-songwriter Holt’s voice, always her greatest asset, is in fine form here. She never sounds like she has to reach for a note, which can be deceptive. Just try singing along and you will see how big a range she has.
Cassie Holt and The Lost Souls have the goods to make a strong statement. Something they have always done in the past, by treating issues like domestic violence and alcoholism. On “Curvy Girl”, Cassie Holt holds it all together with confident, measured vocals and jumps right into the musical fray the producer her backing band, The Lost Souls, has set up for her, singing her own lyrics like she truly means it.
The track has the sound of an artist who is ready to go places, not of one coming from somewhere or standing still. And that’s a good sound to hear in the hands of one so obviously gifted in music and song.
Perhaps the best thing about this latest track, is that nothing is radically different from what came before, but what is different is just enough to crack open the door sufficiently enough to catch a glimpse of an artist truly ready to go down a road that doesn’t stop with the next round of bubble headed pop stars or self-proclaimed R&B diva’s.
Cassie’s heart-squeezing, steel-cutting vocals, command attention whether they are set against a smooth stripped backdrop or some soulful thunder, deliver by The Lost Souls.
Cassie Holt sounds fully in charge, engaged, and most of all like the sexy curvy woman she is, rather than the skinny vocal stylist that body-bashing friends, fashion magazines, and TV commercials unrealistically portray how women (and to a lesser extent, men) should be.
Holt has the spirit, soul, and true grit of an artist (and a fully grown woman) able to lead rather than follow. And if “Curvy Girl” and her soulful, impeccable vocal work is any indication of what is still to come from Cassie Holt and The Lost Souls, it’s a lead I’ll be happy to follow for many years to come.
