Listening to My Way Home for the first time carries a charge that’s a little like uncovering some long-lost 8mm footage in a juke-joint crawl space. Does it sound awfully familiar? Yes. Does it matter? Not really. How quickly the buzz wears off will depend on whether you buy what Eli Paperboy Reed is selling—in short, a meticulously reverent distillation of gospel, blues, soul and R&B.
Indeed, Reed’s willingness to give himself over so completely to an idiom with such a rich history—and obvious modern-day commercial limitations—is impressive. From his teenage residency in Clarksdale, Miss., to his stint as music director of soul-singer-turned-preacher Mitty Collier’s Chicago church, to his more recent work with Harlem teens, the Brookline, Mass., native is a legitimate student of the form.
Many have been down this road before, including Reed, whose fussed-over 2014 release, Nights Like This, did an uneven job of refurbing his retro-belter formula for a pop audience. By contrast, My Way Home was recorded on vintage analog equipment in the Brooklyn apartment of drummer Loren Humphrey (Guards). The entire thing was tracked in just four days, and the pent-up, wind-tunnel sound and throat-shredding vocal runs that drive its 11 tracks reflect a renewed sense of urgency.
Reed’s found a sweet spot in the raw spirituality of tracks like “Tomorrow’s Not Promised,” “I’d Rather Be Alone,” beautifully ragged pro-environment closer “What Have We Done” and the gospel-charged title track. If Reed ever tires of the industry hamster wheel, a pastorship at the coolest church on the planet awaits, God willing.
—Hobart Rowland
