Listen to Irma Thomas sing on Audience with the Queen and it’s nearly impossible to believe the titular New Orleans monarch of soul is 84 years old. 

Backed by and delivering songs written for her by Galactic, plus a cover of Nancy Wilson’s “How Glad I Am” to open the nine-track joint, Thomas is the poster Queen for music as fountain of youth even as she recounts a long life of joy on the road in “Where I Belong” and laments society’s ills on “Lady Liberty.” 

And that’s the bipolar thrust of Audience, which toggles between despair (“Maybe people have lost their damn mind and this is just the end of days,” Thomas sings on “People”) and the optimistic lines of “Peace in My Heart,” on which Thomas declares: “You know the world ain’t all that bad.” 

Both things can be true. Just as it can be true that while Thomas is the star of Audience with the Queen, Galactic make her shine more brightly both with their songwriting, their music making and their production which recreates a swirl of funk and soul and blues blended with brass and joyful background vocals to bolster Thomas without leaving her in the shadows. 

And that’s why Audience with the Queen is the rare June-December musical partnership that works as a vibrant piece of modern music without ever sounding forced or obsequious. It’s simply a killer Galactic and Irma Thomas recording.