I don't know about you, but I had a serious disconnect between my expectations based on the album's cover and title, and the reality of the music from the onset, punctured by Aaron Frazer's vocals 28 seconds in. The artwork seems more befitting of the teenybopper demographic, while the look of the artist himself had me prepared for something more akin to Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers than the falsetto-crooning soul dripping from Frazer's mouth. 

Written and recorded in four days with fellow retro-minded multi-instrumentalist/producer Dan Auerbach, Introducing... is a welcome opening statement as our first 2021 album featured in this space. Frazer wears his influences on his sleeve, and when those exemplars are Smokey Robinson and Curtis Mayfield, with a voice that's a dead ringer for Eddie Kendricks, I'm all ears. Describing Frazer's music solely in terms of artists from 50 plus years ago leaves out the modern part of the equation that allows a twenty-first century tinge to color his solo debut. As we embark on a new year, and the events of this month turn a new page, I know I'm not alone in welcoming a fresh spin on days of yore.