RIYL: Etta James, The Black Crowes, Janis Joplin, Ray LaMontagne
With enough soul, the improbable can be possible. And with the video for’ “Hold On” approaching 9 million views on You Tube and their contribution to Silver Linings Playbook nominated for a Grammy, Alabama Shakes show no signs of losing their soul power. Hailing from Athens, Alabama, the Shakes started out as a cover band after lead singer Brittany Howard and bassist Zac Cockrell met in (you guessed it) high school. After adding drummer Steve Johnson and guitarist Heath Fogg the band gained momentum fast, garnering media attention with their 2011 EP and blowing up big with 2012’s full-length Boys and Girls.
Propelled by the force of nature that is lead singer Brittany Howard’s voice, the band conjures up an impressive variety of satisfying grooves, dabbling in hard rock, retro doo-wop, roots rock and more innovative fare. Howard wails, moans and growls her way through song after song, earning understandable comparisons to Janis Joplin.
“Hold On” is the centerpiece here, but it’s hard to pinpoint why the track is so incredibly compelling. The anchoring riff is solid, but simple. Same goes for the bass and drums. The groove is super tight, for sure, but like many of the tracks on Boys and Girls, it’s Howard’s earthly and unabashed vocals that are the most transfixing. Rather than sounding effortless, Howard makes it clear that she’s had to try hard in life. She puts her heart and soul into her singing, letting you feel her struggles, her triumphs (albeit small ones) and her joy. There’s a timeless quality to the music that makes it easy to forget how young she and her bandmates are.
On “You Ain’t Alone” Howard takes close to 5 minutes of her own sweet time to work up a ferocious lather as Fogg supplies Jimi Hendrix-styled guitar lines and someone tickles the ivory with abandon. “I Found You”, “Rise To The Sun”, and “Goin’ to the Party” are other early highlights before things start to sag a bit later on. But for a first outing, there’s not much to complain about here. And in a world where Lindsay Lohan can crash her car for the 17th time and still be headline news, the realness that the Alabama Shakes convey feels even more precious.
