Artists:Natalie Walker

Natalie Walker

It's often said that the true test of an artist's worth arrives on their second album, when they have to prove that their first was no fluke. By that measure, Natalie Walker has succeeded wildly with her sophomore effort With You, a startling maturation from the former lead singer of Daughter Darling.

Expanding the strengths of her first solo album, 2006's Urban Angel, With You is a cool, elegant collection of ethereal songs with a warm beating heart, music that retains the stylish, spacey vibe of her debut while revealing an accentuated pop flavor. This is music that's insinuating and alluring, seductive yet sweet, an album that is poised to make Natalie Walker a breakout star, the kind of electronica singer/songwriter whose music is inescapable. Of course, Walker already has been hard to ignore, as Urban Angel penetrated the mass consciousness, earning strong reviews from Billboard, Urb, Trace and All Music Guide, as such singles as "No One Else" and "Quicksand" received heavy rotation. Another sign of how Urban Angel struck a universal chord is how its songs kept popping up in films and movies, starting with Sofia Coppola's use of a Thievery Corporation remix of "Quicksand" in Marie Antoinette, then spreading to the television hits Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy.

All this acclaim and exposure raised the stakes for With You, and Natalie Walker responded by deepening her music, expanding her horizons while digging deep into her soul. Once again, she teamed with the Brooklyn-based Stuhr – the same duo that produced her debut – which gives With You a sonic throughline with Urban Angel, but Natalie and Stuhr were not complacent, they opened up new sonic vistas on this second record. More