Susanna Hoffs
Someday
Album · Pop · 2012
The Bangles were a '60s-influenced band at heart, and their lead singer, Susanna Hoffs, has spent much of the past few decades paying homage to that era. She's released excellent volumes of covers with Matthew Sweet (Under the Covers) and her own sun-dappled originals, which are rich with harmony and expressive arrangements that range from jangle pop to orchestrated folk pieces. Here, working with Nashville musician Andrew Brassell and producer Mitchell Froom, Hoffs puts her voice at the center of some pleasantly adventurous tunes. Horns punctuate the sing-song lope of "November Sun." Woodwinds add depth to the grand majesty of "Holding My Breath." Touches of Burt Bacharach, Van Dyke Parks, Lee Hazlewood, and Mickie Most lurk in Froom's tasteful arrangements. Hoffs never oversings but remains in complete control, adding a wistful yearn to her voice in the bucolic folk tune "All I Need," the Byrds-inspired "Raining," and the compact "Regret."