Grace Love & Reset, "Back Down" (We Coast)

Seattle vocalist/lyricist Grace Love is best known for her time fronting the True Loves, a powerful group of soul/R&B revivalists who made a big splash around town throughout the 2010s. Her new project, Grace Love & Reset, veers into slightly different territory. Their self-titled debut album is a well-oiled hedonism machine whose every moment is geared toward facilitating romance and sex. So, it's the ideal Valentine's Day sonic artifact, and the local We Coast label perfectly timed its appearance for this most conflicted of holidays (it actually came out a week ago, but the release party happens tonight at the Orient Express, with DJs Riz and Almond Brown also on the bill.)

The dominant sound on Grace Love & Reset is old-school disco and house music with extroverted build-ups, lascivious bass lines, and outré synth blurts and spurts. And reigning over it all are Love's bold, expressive vocals—think somewhere between Nona Hendryx and Grace Jones. Of all the libido-liberating cuts on the LP, "Back Down" struts the hardest, boasting the filthiest bass and raciest synth parts (thank Mark Mattrey and Anthony Warner, respectively, for those embellishments). Drummer Davee C. Carpenter's beats are eminently fuckworthy and Love is a tower of empowerment on the mic. "Back Down" heads the potent VD soundtrack that is this record. Check out the song after the jump.