Album Review: "Boys & Girls" - Alabama Shakes

"Boys & Girls": B. One of the hottest new bands on the music scene these days is Alabama Shakes, a foursome from the little northern Alabama town of Athens. Their lead singer and bassist, Brittany Howard and Zac Cockrell, went to high school together and were both into writing music, so they collaborated. Once they had the framework of a few new creations, they added Heath Fogg, a guitarist who played with an established band that helped Howard and Cockrell get their first gig, and drummer Steve Johnson, whose day job was working in a nuclear power plant. These four musicians had divergent musical tastes, but were open minded enough to try each other's favorite genres. The band got their start playing mostly covers in mid-South dive bars, but never stopped writing their own material. Their big break came when a friend of theirs who ran a music blog, Aquarium Drunkard, agreed to post one of their original songs. From there they received some radio air play, and Alabama Shakes was on its way to stardom. This spring they have appeared on Conan O'Brien and David Letterman's shows, and made a splash at Austin's South By Southwest music festival in March, playing their set on the big stage of Stubb's, the festival's most famous venue. Their first album, "Boys & Girls," came out this past Tuesday.

I can't remember the last time I bought a CD by a brand new, non-local artist without first hearing at least a song or two. But there's a soft spot in my heart for bands that got their start playing covers in dive bars - - a history to which I can personally relate (although not the part where there's ensuing fame) - - so I decided to give "Boys & Girls" a shot, sound unheard. (That's my coined phrase inspired by the better known "sight unseen.") Their style is billed as "blues based rock" and also as "60's style soul." After listening to the CD in its entirety four times, I can understand why Alabama Shakes' sound is hard to pigeonhole. They are a derivative group, and I mean that in a complimentary sense. Even on just the first listening alone, one can tell that the songwriters were influenced by a wide range of artists, undoubtedly a result of starting out as a cover band having to appeal to a wide range of bar patrons' tastes. (On an NPR interview, Brittany Howard stated that they liked, and played, everything from Black Sabbath to Otis Redding. Now that is quite a range!)

The eleven songs on "Boys And Girls" generally have a very clean and efficient sound. Only a highly effective organ and an occasional piano enhance the sound of the four core musicians. Few songs have back-up vocals. The lead guitar is loud and clear even while the lead vocalist is singing, not just on instrumental breaks; something like Los Lonely Boys do on much of their set list. I don't recall hearing a tom tom, except maybe a floor tom on a tune or two. If you like the Phil Spector production style, these sparse arrangements are not for you. I think the album would have been better with more of a mixture of tempos. The beat does not change often, and when it does it's usually simply from mid-tempo to slow. After listening to the first five or six songs, I kept waiting for a breakout rocker, maybe something along the lines of the Georgia Satellites' "Keep Your Hands To Yourself." That did not happen, but maybe they'll mix it up more on their sophomore album, assuming there'll be one.

What this band has that no other band can claim is Brittany Howard. She can go from plaintive to angry to growling to emoting to happy, and sell her believability each time. On the opening track, "Hold On," her smokey husky voice sounds like Angela McCluskey, whose 2004 release "The Things We Do" is one of my most underrated albums. On the title track, "Boys & Girls," Howard brings back thoughts of Adele. My favorite song, "You Ain't Alone" (the song that launched the band), contains shades of Aretha Franklin. Some fans claim similarities to Janis Joplin. I won't argue with them.

If you listen carefully, you can identify several of the Shakes' influences. "Rise To The Sun" could have been recorded by My Morning Jacket. The similarity to Jacket's "Wordless Chorus" is quite apparent. "I Ain't The Same" recalls early '80's Stones, or perhaps Prince. "Hang Loose" has a hook that sounds borrowed from the Breeders. "On Your Way" evokes Gaslight Anthem. As I wrote above, Alabama Shakes' sound is derivative.

I predict these guys are keepers, with bigger things to come. You can't deny they are off to a great start. They already have sold-out gigs coming up in Hamburg, Berlin, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Dublin. This summer they're playing both Bonnaroo (Tennessee in June) and Lollapalooza (Chicago in August). Before the year is out, they will have performed in Europe on three different tours. Not bad for a little band from Athens, Alabama.