iSound

The first developing artist to be signed to Hear Music, Hilary McRae is a 21-year-old writer/singer/pianist who seems to have time traveled to this decade from the 1970s. Her debut album ‘Through These Walls’ thrums with the vibrant rhythms and textures of old-school, horn-drenched, uptown R&B, a dynamic setting for the timelessly bittersweet songs and rich, dusky alto of this stunningly accomplished newcomer. McRae’s vocal instrument is capable of withering intensity one moment, hushed intimacy the next—a perfect match for these songs of uncommon candor and humanity—songs could only have emanated from an old soul. The album also introduces another remarkably gifted newcomer in producer/guitarist Zach Ziskin, McRae’s longtime musical collaborator. It was Ziskin who had the crucial idea of enlisting the legendary Charlie Calello, who has arranged music for legends such as Frank Sinatra and Bruce Springsteen, to create the horn parts. “I’ve loved horns since I was a kid listening...