We have a new contender for album of the year. A soulful, easy listening, classic in the making from a talented artist.

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If you were to get this blind, without awareness of who Natalie Bergman was, you would spend ages trying to figure out which 1960s or 1970s group had mislaid a minor masterpiece and where it had been dug up from. This has been produced in a resolutely old-fashioned analogue to tape 12 track fashion, a direct riposte to modern digital living. Natalie Bergman was part of a duo, with her brother Eliot Bergman (on production duties here), called Wild Belle that released 3 albums in the 2010s. She released her first solo album in 2021, an album shaped by the recent loss of her father and stepmother in a car accident. This album comes from a happier starting point having given birth to her first child in 2024. It bridges old grief with new joy and possibility.

There is so much brilliance on display here it is difficult to know where to start. At times it brings Dusty Springfield and Nancy Sinatra to mind, at others Motown masters of harmony like The Supremes, or Martha and the Vandellas. Carol Kaye is cited as an influence in the album materials and the sound and style of the prolific bassist is certainly evident in the end product.

‘Lonely Road’ is a perfect opening; it is a lost 1960s classic. It has less been written, more smuggled into the present using an actual time machine. It is so good it might actually bring a tear to your eye. ‘Gunslinger’ carries on in the same vein. The level of understanding of old production techniques has created a beautiful piece of work, it could equally be handed in as a master’s thesis on what made 1960s soul music so utterly brilliant.

That single is followed straight up by the other huge release from the album, ‘Dance.’ This feels more like a cross of Booker T and George McCrae, again it is a haunting use of vocal melody.

Title track ‘My Home Is Not In This World’ evokes Bergman’s feelings of not fitting in with the current climate of the USA or the overriding digital landscape that we live in. Throughout the album is the feeling that she wants to fit in, is looking for a place to fit in.

You could write an essay on pretty much every track on here. The start of ‘Looking For You’ is exquisite. ‘Didn’t Get To Say Goodbye’ is a direct reference to the incident that claimed her father and stepmother. “Where did you go that morning, you took a drive, sixteen firemen. I got the call. There was a painting of a lonely tree on the wall of my hotel room.” Set to simple backing this is devastating stuff.

‘Changes’ occupies an odd ground where it calls backwards, but with current trends you could equally imagine it being a powerful track for Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus or Lana Del Ray. ‘I’ll Be Your Number One’ is one of the few moments where the 60s funk finds a little room to lean towards the reggae influences that so directed the early sound of Wild Belle. ‘Song For Arthur’ is clearly for her child, a borderline lullaby. It was the first song she wrote on the new album, the one that provided the spark for everything else to follow after three years lacking inspiration following the completion of ‘Mercy.’

This is a staggering work of art, assured brilliance that apes the sounds of a certain period of time, but is utterly alive and present rather than being a museum piece. Bergman is a significant talent, and this album is undoubtedly one of the best things you will listen to all year.

CD: https://amzn.to/3GB5EHo

Vinyl: https://amzn.to/3GB5IXE