Anyone with a passing interesting in rock music will be familiar with the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, a locale where countless rock n’ roll dreams came true. That studio became synonymous with a certain sound that enlivened records everyone from The Rolling Stones to Blackfoot and made stars out of Bob Dylan and Paul Simon. Therefore, it takes a brave band to call their album Muscle Shoals and to bear the weight of expectation that name brings. However, DeWolff have never been short of confidence and for their latest album they made camp at Muscle Shoals and in bottling some of that magic have produced a career defining album.
Some music immediately grabs you by the private parts and gives a good tug and that’s certainly the case with opening track ‘In Love’. With a muscular riff and awash with retro-sounding keys it comes stomping out of the speakers like a rhino whose been fed on a strict Viagra diet, then when the song bursts into life to incorporate elements of soul and funk…well, life doesn’t get much better. Like many bands who operate as a trio DeWolff create a sound that’s far bigger than their constituent parts. It’s a configuration that leaves no place to hide, yet the three beings who comprise DeWolff have never been shrinking violets and they each push themselves to the fore in an attempt to garner the listener’s attention. That turns songs such as ‘Hard To Make A Buck’ into speaker shakers and it’s here where the band’s experience comes into play. It would be very easy for things to veer into the red, yet DeWolff are wise enough to insert plenty of space into their songs and that gives them an organic feel as they breathe and ululate.
Immortalised by Lynyrd Skynyrd on their song ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio is renowned for giving bands a warm and luxurious aesthetic and it’s something DeWolff manage to bottle on their latest album. Flowing like a smooth, chocolatey, river of silk, the epic ‘Snowbird’ is almost progressive in structure, a song of several suites that shapeshifts and takes on new form over eight-and-a-half glorious minutes. It’s a musical version of Novocaine and wraps the listener up in a warm fuzzy ball and it is something carried over onto the soulful ‘Ships In The Night’. In fact, the whole album ebbs and flows perfectly; it has the feel of an old school album, and while it is perfectly feasible to dip in and out, Muscle Shoals is a record best experienced in one sitting to fully appreciate its ululation.
From the cover to the sound contained within, Muscle Shoals is refreshingly retro, yet forward facing and fun, and they are qualities that make this album one of (if not the) 2024’s best picks.
- Muscle Shoals is released via Mascot Label Group on 6th December 2024.
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Track List:
- In Love
- Natural Woman
- Out On The Town
- Let’s Stay Together
- Ophelia
- Truce
- Hard To Make A Buck
- Book Of Life
- Winner (When It Comes To Losing)
- Fools & Horses
- Snowbird
- Ships In The Night
- Cicada Serenade
