|
""Love, Death & In Between" is a generous work, a melting pot of seventies hard rock and warm soul music that testifies to the abundant creativity of DeWolff, the most American of Dutch bands."
|
4/5
|
|
|
Many bands claim to be from the past and the 60s/70s in particular, but some are more vintage than others, going further in their allegiance to this bygone era. DeWolff is one of them. There is already the look. The long hair and the beard make the three Dutchmen look like Bee Gees lost in a variety show. There is of course the music, at the beginning awkwardly attached to stoner when it is simply drinking from antediluvian (Hard) Rock that funk and soul touches tend to soften more and more as time goes by and the tours take turns.
Finally, there are the recording techniques. They don't really like computers, preferring to use analogue equipment inherited from the 80s. Recording remotely doesn't appeal to them either, they rather seek the warmth of a studio, the contact and the exchanges with other people, which the health crisis that locked up the planet deprived them of during the making of "Wolfpack".
The conception of "Love, Death & In Between" was born out of this frustration. DeWolff wanted to meet in a (French) studio and invite a multitude of musicians and friends, as a way of warding off the solitude imposed by the pandemic. The van de Poel brothers, Pablo (vocals and guitars) and Luka (drums) and keyboardist Robin Piso have put together a line-up filled to the brim with guests: singers, backing singers, guitarists, bassist, organist, trumpeter, saxophonist... A rich array of voices and instruments, which dictate this album's generosity but also its warm and wet colours of feeling.
More than ever, DeWolff draws its inspiration from the United States, its literature (Steinbeck and "Tortilla Flat"), its cinema (Paul Thomas Anderson's "Licorice Pizza") and the spirituality of gospel music, which bewitched them during a trip to Memphis where they attended a mass. The blues and soul influences already perceptible on "Wolfpack" totally envelop its successor whose listening not only plunges the listener into the four walls of the Breton Kerwax studio but also - and above all - into the interior of an American church filled with saxophone ('Message For My Baby'), Hammond organ ('Night Train'), soft guitars ('Jacky Go To Sleep'), brass ('Wontcha Wontacha') and even more female choirs ('Gilded (Ruin Of Love)').
In doing so, DeWolff succeeds in combining the stirring energy of rock with the emotional force of rhythm & blues with gospel flights. "Love, Death & In Between" swings ('Heart Stopping Kinda Show'), narrates an epic journey between life, love and death ('Rosita' and its sixteen minutes) and always touches the heart like 'Mr Garbage Man', a slow and tragic ballad, without forgetting the silky 'Queen Of Space & Time' which closes the ban on a note full of sadness.
At 65 minutes, 'Love, Death & In Between' is a generous work, a melting pot of seventies hard rock and warm soul music that testifies to the abundant creativity of the most American of Dutchmen. DeWolff has given it his all on this album, which is sure to be a landmark in his already rich career. - Official website
|
|
|
TRACK LISTING:
01. Night Train 02. Heart Stopping Kinda Show 03. Will o’ the Wisp 04. Jacky Go To Sleep 05. Rosita 06. Mr. Garbage Man 07. Counterfeit Love 08. Message For My Baby 09. Gilded (Ruin of Love) 10. Pure Love 11. Wontcha Wontcha
LINEUP:
Luka Van De Poel: Batterie Pablo Van De Poel: Chant / Guitares Robin Piso: Claviers
|
|
|
|
(0) MIND(S) FROM OUR READERS
|
|
|
|
|
Top of the page
|
|
|
(0) COMMENT(S)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
READERS
4/5 (1 view(s))
|
STAFF:
4/5 (1 view(s))
|
|
|
|
|
|
IN RELATION WITH DEWOLFF
|
|
|
|
|
"Osmium out now !" |
|
OTHER REVIEWS
|
|
|
|
|
OTHER(S) REVIEWS ABOUT DEWOLFF
|
|