Double J Pick of the Week – Leon Bridges

Leon Bridges
Better Man

Leon Bridges' voice is definitely the most immediate thing to love about this track. It's deep and soulful and it does, like everyone is going to say in the coming months, have a bit of Sam Cooke about it. But there's so much more to like.

The band is perfectly restrained, sitting way back and providing just enough backing for Bridges' incredible voice. The sound of the drums, the doo wop backing vocals and that gritty saxophone are practically perfect. It's gritty enough to be soulful but smooth enough to be widely palatable.

It's not a question of whether people will love Leon Bridges' incredible smoky soul, it's a matter of just how many will fall under his spell. With a song as faultless as Better Man– and the other tracks he has online are just as good – he should be bigger than Bublé. But there's not a lot of justice in pop music so we can only hope he at least gets enough kudos to get by.