“Making music alone is fun, but nothing beats making songs with friends,” Louis York robotically says in the intro of their new album, Songs with Friends.
The duo, consisting of hitmakers Claude Kelly and Chuck Harmony, has released their sophomore LP via Weirdo Workshop.
The 13-track offering features heady collaborations with Jessie J, Lalah Hathaway, Anthony Hamilton, Tamia, and Chris Daughtry, to name a few.
Ahead of the album, Louis York released the singles “Heaven Bound” with Jessie J, “Alone A Lot” with Anthony Hamilton, “Three Little Words” with Tamia, “Puppet Strings” with PJ Morton, and “Have A Little Light” with Gramps Morgan.
Additionally, it includes their 2022 track “Strawberry Skies” and 2023’s “Love Outrageous.”
“Each song has a real story with a good friend. This project is full of creative geniuses behind the scenes and on record,” Louis York.
On Songs with Friends, Louis York takes listeners on a genre-defying voyage through love and life. “Don’t Slam The Door” featuring The Shindellas is a plea to save a relationship from ending.
“Don’t slam the door on our love / Nothing is perfect / But our love is worth it,” they sing on the rock-soul track.
“Don’t Mean Much Anymore” with Lalah Hathaway contemplates past disagreements in a relationship, realizing it wasn’t a big deal in the grand scheme. “I can barely recollect what we were fighting for / So that don’t mean much anymore,” Hathaway sings in a velvety tone.
The penultimate “Catch A Feeling” with Chris Daughtry is a stadium anthem about giving yourself permission to let go and be free. The aggressive guitar riffs and punching drums, coupled with Kelly’s and Daughtry’s soaring vocals, are enough to send anyone to Cloud 9.
The closing track, “Balloons,” is about liberating yourself from anything that weighs you down, giving yourself the chance to float away into new possibilities.
“I wanna feel light / I wanna feel high / The way that balloons / They just sail across the sky / Oh, it would be so free / It would feel so nice / The closest thing to paradise,” Kelly sings on the dreamy track.
Songs with Friends is the follow-up to Louis York’s 2019 debut album, American Griots.
Regarding the album, Chuck Harmony told Rated R&B, “We really wanted to highlight the fact that black people started all of American music — rock & roll, country, R&B, and what people consider pop and jazz.”
He added, “Part of our mission was to talk about the history of music and the influence we had on all genres of music. In order to do that, you have to show and prove.”
American Griots included the singles “Don’t You Forget” and “No Regrets” featuring The Shindellas. The album was highlighted on Rated R&B’s Best R&B Albums of 2019 list.
Aside from their own music, Louis York has been working behind the scenes with other artists. They produced The Shindellas’ sophomore album, Shindo, co-wrote and produced K. Michelle’s country track “Tennessee,” and helmed Kim Nicky’s “This Ole Land,” to name a few.
Stream Louis York’s new album Songs with Friends below.
