Who Gives You Comfort? Oh, a Vocal of Comfort, that is.
Screw the overdone battle of witty opinions we've heard time and time again on "who's the best lead vocalist ever?"
Regarding the subject of society's musical endeavors, is there not a vocalist that immediately fills your present void or soothes the negative elements surrounding you. What I would describe as the "vocal of comfort". It can truly emanate from any recorded panorama in any world. Although you'd be hard pressed to find anything you can prove exists outside this present sphere called Earth, I'm open to suggestions. Metal, rock, punk, pop, country, reggae, roots, rap, blues, jazz and what the hell ever that does or doesn't fall under whatever. In other words, when you listen to that individual throw it out there, does your temporal lobe get restfully "shawshanked"?
Obviously, there are creative factors that come into play while you contemplate, such as speaking accent, style of musician, songwriting, recording production, surrounding players and live performance. There are underlying psychological factors that fairly affect your choice, which include your age and emotional state during initial artist discovery and long-term consumption. That creates a strong life-long impression. Not sure how to word this, but ... it can be difficult to separate your "anointing" of comfort vocalist without being swayed by the artist's overall success. With that said, you can't just judge by a barrage of snappy hits that really got your goose. The question is, do you still love that voice even when the song is below par in your book? If the answer is, very much so and yes, then you might have something there.
My list runs roughshod over the pantheon of singers parked in the past 45 years. They all float fantastically in my head and internal organs, for whatever reason the universe can muster. We go from Walter Shreifels to Harriett Wheeler to Ben Nichols. Then we jump between Jason Beebout and Patty Griffin. Let's follow that up with a dose of Glen Phillips, Rob Dickinson, Neal Casal and Morrissey (Smiths-era only). Well how about J Mascis, Paul Noonan, Bob Mould, Van Morrison and Robert Smith? All extra tasty and seize hold of my disposition upon entering my ear canals.
Then we have our #1 honored guest of the evening... Mr. Richard Butler. Bring it all, from The Psychedelic Furs, Love Spit Love and solo work, his voice is a spiritual pillow to this gentleman. That would be me. I will now go back to referencing the subject at hand. Look here, Richard Butler simply and always resonates, both live and on record, like he's smoking a cigarette while having sex and keeping a witty yet tense smile throughout. He definitely knows he's completely in control and the only one in on the joke. He's a cool-ass mutherf!%ker, entirely cooler than your planet, and tough shit for you. He can rock my mood and sedate my mood, but still keep my pulse intact at the same BPM, equipped with his own internal auto-tune. Most of the time when I hear him sing, I want to teleport into his velocity of nonchalant and soak up what he's having.
There can be no wrong answer for you, but dig deep and be honest! Honesty is cool. Honesty is cleansing. Be cool and cleanse yourself.