The surprise break-out band of 2012 ditch the soul, blues, gospel gumbo for a more adventurous follow-up
After the million-selling, Grammy-nominated breakout success of their debut album, Boys and Girls, Alabama Shakes find themselves at a crossroads for the follow-up - sell their soul to the commercial devil or surge forward into uncharted territory?
Thankfully, charismatic front woman Brittany Howard and her band have not pulled a Kings of Leon and decided to make the same album over and over - Sound & Color lives up to its name with ventures into punk, prog blues, sweet southern soul, and even lovers rock on a record full of light and shade.
They haven’t quite abandoned the retro soul, gospel and blues gumbo that made their debut so immediately irresistible and successful. Alabama Shakes buck and holler for sure on the likes of Miss You and I Don’t Wanna Fight but Howard sounds a lot more troubled and a lot less carefree.
Rough-housing blues rock gives way to troubled balladry and worried lyrical imprecations rather than helpless lust. The title track intros in a warm haze of bells and xylophone and understatement is the guiding mission here. Both Dunes and, later, Gemini reveal ambition and experimentation in a rather lovely mix of space rock and seventies soul.
Straight out of that mellowness, they launch into The Greatest, a ragged, throwaway punk racket that morphs into Nugget-y garage rock before trailing off into a VU blaze-out.
Sound & Color is the sound of a band on a questing mission. It’s not always a successful one but it’s always intriguing and always entertaining.
Alan Corr
