Ruby Rose Fox’s first full length album Domestic is a splendid offering of colorful, tuneful, and well-constructed songs. Ms. Fox’s vocal delivery too is loaded with tremendous appeal.. Her voice coats these 12 clever songs with her special unique timbre and personality, making each a potential radio hit with mass appeal. Needless to say, her backing band is strong enough to support her and is made up mostly of the players and singers we’ve all seen her work with at her local Boston area shows.
Brimming with numerous nice touches in Fox’s vocal application, “Freedom Fighter” opens the disc with Fox’s haunting, dreamy voice sprawling over the soundscape with an easefully paced measure. So much makes this floating number feel expansive, like when she coos slyly over all, a cleverly installed second tuft of emotion. It’s uncanny how well Fox, as a song crafter, makes this one gentle and harrowing at once.
“Bury The Body” is clearly influenced by classic R&B elements. The chorus sounds tremendously fresh and new even as it harkens back to the 1960’s Stax Recordings. Rose struts through her verses with an amazingly understated confidence and the rhythmic allure she creates with her vocal nuances captures the imagination. Keyboards and drums are utilized in unusual ways, each elegant and sophisticated in their run of notes while maintaining hip movements within.
“Rock Bottom,” written by Fox’s producer Dave Brophy, bops through a mischievous groove. Quirky lyrics, meanwhile, come to life as Fox’s wide, rangy tenor give it all a torch singer flair, reminding of all the great female vocalists from the early 20th century as well as offering the hip soulfulness from 1960s era R&B.
Dreamy R&B-pop vocal coos usher in “O’ Roy,” another one from this album that arcs gently, widely over a sonic strategy. Fox’s elegant, rangy vocal glide could make a believer even out of people who wouldn’t usually favor her kind of music. The richness of her voice is astonishing, like something full of grit but at once smooth, flowing, and naturally beautiful, pure, and unaffected.
“Ms. America” is packed with many of Fox’s favorite elements. Its vocal melody, unusual lyrics, and quirky, explorative instrumentation make it too unique for words. It’s uncanny how well Ms. Fox balances her unusual experimentations with more familiar influences, making one feel refreshed by her newness while being comforted by a sense of the familiar.
“Painkiller” feels like a 1960s Motown tune with its advanced use of space between the beat and the rest of the song’s textures. Snappy, tuneful guitar riffs contrast with Fox’s smooth, flowing vocal aplomb, making the character feel richer in each, each ringing out with true, artful authenticity. When Fox sustains a vocal note or uses a falsetto it is like candy for the ears, and this tune has plenty of those moments where she uses both techniques to get the sound and vibe she needs.
“Every Time I Tell” gets a friskier, more rocking beat as Fox struts over the instrumentation with assertive vocal melody lines. Her voice is as rich as gold and goes toe to toe with a fuzzy rhythm guitar, while nailing the twists and turns in the vocal melody. There’s an exciting energy in this irresistibly catchy, danceable number.
“Dirty Dog” gets a thick, thumping groove from Fox’s rhythm section, making it another tune one can move to. Fox’s crisp vocal gets a fun processing in the backdrop while she sings with a hip, snappy, twist in the foreground. All of this vocal magic gives the song attitude, an unstoppable force of nature personality that plays itself out with a strident beat and anthem like lyrics.
A slow burner torch song, “Entertainer” finds Fox at her emotive best. About pining for a lost love, she makes the listener feel this one deeply. Her long vocal sustains, her backing singers’ cooing, and a sad, mournful guitar line develop the heart aching tension by keeping their power just under the surface, something that’s always feels ready to erupt.
Fox is unafraid to plunge right into unusual song titles and lyrical themes. The remaining three tracks highlight her unusual progressiveness. “Ronald Reagan Killed The Radio” makes the most of her vocal edginess in the lyrical delivery and the softer hush during a chorus about strategic arms negotiations. It’s weird in a haunting, beguiling manner. Tender, minor key piano work injects another layer of mystery and eerie suspense as Fox draws her listeners into danger with her alluring darkness.
“Dance Of Frankenstein” was written about Robert Oppenheimer’s A-Bomb as a metaphor for our generation’s very real man made monster. Fox’s lyrical exposition intrigues while her vocals and her backing band’s perfect touches on their instruments draw us in even further with their dramatic pauses and changes. Fox’s unique vocal timbre, range, and quirky delivery allows her to fill this one up with all sorts of subtle and not so subtle nuances.
Closing out with “Requiem For Danny Thunder,” Fox slides into a number of R&B vocal techniques, moving with a barely perceptible grace from heavenly high notes to gospel like chorus to more soulful belts. It’s astonishing how much Fox can inject into her song while also keeping it all seamlessly under control. If listeners don’t realize by the end of this song and album that they’ve been listening to musical genius, they’ll at least have the benefit of listening to something quite enjoyable and highly entertaining.
Ruby Rose Fox is most definitely onto something big. She can be huge, appealing to the hearts of music fans, engaging the minds of music critics, and all the while impressing the music snobs and culture vultures who desire freshness and originality at every turn. Some day soon these tunes will be the soundtrack of our lives, playing in jukeboxes, in nightclubs, in movie soundtracks, and on the radio, if only Ms. Fox wishes upon the right star.
