by Amity Hereweard
Bring a rich soulfulness to life, Woman Of Faces, allows Celeste to simply step forward and sing. “On With The Show” arrives lightly on its feet, its instrumentation intentionally restrained, as if the song itself is making room for the voice at its center. From the first phrases, Celeste supports why many hear her voice as singular in a crowded modern soul pop landscape. There is grit in her lower register, the nasal grain in her midrange pulls you closer, warm and alluring, while her upper register blooms with controlled intensity. Each phrase is shaped with emotion, building a story that develops through the song. This is modern soul-pop carried not by production excess, but by vocal expression.
Across the album, Celeste’s voice reveals itself as a many-sided instrument, which is appropriate for a record titled Woman Of Faces. Her vocalism is deeply grounded in soul tradition, echoing the lineage of light jazz phrasing, classic soul, and rhythm and blues, yet it carries a contemporary edge that makes it sound of today. On the title track, jazzy harmonic colors of extended chords give her melodic choices space to stretch and bend. The song builds patiently, the soul elements returning in the chorus with a sense of earned release. Her upper-register moments are placed with care, never indulgent, always serving the drama of the song’s emotional climb.
“Happening Again” leans into a 1960s soul atmosphere, its strings swelling beneath a cyclic melody that gradually widens in range and intensity. The orchestration doesn’t overwhelm; instead, it supports the song’s sense of emotional recurrence, mirroring the feeling of patterns repeating despite one’s best efforts to move on. It is beautifully sung, controlled yet aching. Elsewhere, “People Always Change” offers a different shade entirely with Celeste’s falsetto floating above the groove with rhythmic playfulness, revealing lightness and elasticity within the album’s darker emotional palette.
One of the album’s most affecting moments arrives with “Keep Smiling,” where the orchestration becomes inseparable from the song’s emotional core. The strings add color, motion, and subtle tension, blooming in and out of the arrangement without ever distracting from the vocal. An arpeggiated guitar quietly keeps time, while piano and strings rise and fall with textures that carry the song forward. It’s cinematic without being heavy-handed, expressive without stealing focus.
Throughout Woman Of Faces, the production, helmed by Jeff Bhasker, understands a crucial truth: this is a record about the voice. The soundscape remains dark, moody, and cinematic, but it exists in service of Celeste’s singing rather than as a competing presence. Strings, space, and atmosphere act as emotional framing devices, allowing her delivery to remain the focal point. Even in its most opulent moments, the album sounds intimate, allowing one to focus on Celeste telling her story.
Woman Of Faces is a low-key yet deeply impressive vocal experience. The album centers the female voice in all its nuance, vulnerability, and strength. It explores the quiet corners of expression, the subtle glides and textures that carry more truth than perfection ever could. Soulful throughout, the album invites closeness.
Woman Of Faces confirms Celeste’s technical command and her trust in herself as an artist. It is a record that listens as much as it sings, and in doing so, it leaves a lasting resonance long after the music stops.
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