Gold Diggers

The Texas singer delivers a smooth, risk-averse R&B album whose nostalgic trappings aim for timelessness.

With his 2015 debut Coming Home, Texas musician Leon Bridges injected a cool modern style into classic ’50s and early ’60s soul, making like a brand-new Sam Cooke (right down to the pleated high-waisted trousers and sweater-knit polos). But like Kacey Musgraves, who he has duetted with, Bridges is using his third album as a sort of reinvention—not so much a makeover as an opportunity to spread his wings wider. This time around, he's delving into the smoothest of R&B, and there's little that's retro about it. "Magnolias" employs a trap beat and bright horns to bolster silky vocals from Bridges and guest Ink.

'Gold-Diggers Sound' celebrates Leon Bridges' immersive experience of creating music in the same East Hollywood room where he lived, worked, and drank over the course of two years.