Review Summary: As Southern as cornbread.
There is something to be admired about the voice of Brittany Howard, lead singer and songwriter for her outfit Alabama Shakes. Throughout Sound & Color, the vocalist whips through her range with the power of Janis Joplin, and the soulfulness of Nina Simone. It’s an impressive feat in an age where neo-soul has been reduced to D’Angelo, Miguel, and a large amount of underwhelming Usher-esque projects. It’s an even more impressive feat that such music has acquired the large amount of popularity it has received.
Not that it isn’t deserved. On
Sound & Color, Alabama Shakes delivers incredibly infectious grooves while casually throwing out soulful harmonies and some gorgeous reverb in the process, with
“Don’t Wanna Fight” and
“Gimme All Your Love” showcasing these traits in particular. While this sounds as though Alabama Shakes have maintained the retro-soul sound that was found on their debut, Sound & Color comes through with cleaner production, juicier guitars, and a few experiments that display an attempt to broaden horizons. First-half highlight “Dunes” is a success in this regard, applying a blues-rock edge a la fellow contemporaries such as the Black Keys and the Detroit Cobras. Simply put, the first five tracks on this album offer some of the most infectious songs you will hear this year.
Even as the quality dips slightly through its second half, though,
Sound & Color still leaves a few gems to find in between some of the weaker moments. “The Greatest” is the best track on the back end, and the furthest departure of Alabama Shakes’ signature sound that is documented here, a loose interpretation of
Is This It-era Strokes, with a few shuffled chords in the middle to split apart the heavy garage stomp. “Shoegaze”, meanwhile, sounds like it would be at home on a Steely Dan album, but it lacks the same songwriting punch found in the first half. Closing tracks “Gemini” and “Over My Head” suffer this same fate, with the former wearing out its welcome long before the end of its six-minute runtime, and the latter containing elements that seem to jut out awkwardly within the song. Still, the sheer songwriting of the first half cannot be denied, and while it may not be supported by its back end,
Sound & Color remains a worthwhile excursion, and a showcase of continued growth by this band.
