REVIEW: DeWolff – Love, Death & In Between

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Just so you know, most of the music promoted as R&B that’s been topping the charts after the late 1970s does not really make me tick, at all, apart from a very few exceptions to the general rule. However, the stuff that was released earlier was in its time – and still is! – among the hottest stuff ever released on this sorry-ass ghetto planet. There is just something extremely exciting in the smokey-jazzy sound of those vintage Motown and Stax records. So, quite obviously, when I come across a band that I have not known before, only to find out that they plunge into that particular rabbit hole with reckless abandon, I couldn’t possibly be happier. It does not happen very often, you know. My memory may be full of holes but I have a vague feeling that it’s been rather quiet on this front since the 2020 BLUES PILLS effort, Holy Moly.” There have been quite a few kick-ass blues releases to go around, now and then, but in terms of sweaty, vintage-sounding, R&B-influenced rock, things have been pretty bland around this neighborhood. As luck would have it, things are about to change as the psychedelic southern-rock warriors from the Netherlands, DEWOLFF, will be releasing their sixth studio album “Love, Death & In Between” on February 3rd, 2023, via Mascot Records. Inspired by old-school R&B legends, such as Sam Cooke, THE COASTERS, Ray Charles, and Al Green, the album also takes a nod toward the literary classics of 20th-century American authors – John Steinbeck, in particular. What is there not to like?

The lyrical concept of riding a night train must be one of the oldest tropes in the history of rock lyrics. The album opens with DEWOLFF‘s take on the subject and – fuck yes! – the first couple of minutes deliver such a body blow that you know instantly that the album is not going to let you down. The song is a straight-up punch in the face. It rolls out all the usual ingredients of the class-A vintage R&B knock-out: gritty Hammond and guitar chops, some honky-tonk piano, a little bit of James Brown vibes in the vocal department, a funky brass section, and – first and foremost! – a groove that runs you over with the momentum of a freight train. What boggles the mind is the fact that these funky bastards come from the Netherlands instead of New Orleans!

After the sweaty boogie of “Heart Stopping Kinda Show,” delivered as a cross between the psychedelic soul of yesteryear and THE ROLLING STONES, the next couple of songs slow things down a good notch. “Will o’ the Wisp” traverses the same dark waters where AMY WINEHOUSE shone like a crazy diamond. The song is by no means weak, but I cannot help thinking that the vocals just don’t churn the blood the same way WINEHOUSE‘s wailings do. Then again, she’s no longer with us and these soulful ruffians most definitely are. I guess you cannot really compete against somebody’s ghost, especially if it’s of such a huge caliber as Miss Winehouse‘s.

Jackie Go To Sleep” comes off like a cross between “Albatross” by FLEETWOOD MAC and “Maiden Voyage” by Herbie Hancock, layered with a heavy dose of the sweaty gospel. I guess these modern-day soul emissaries must be doing something right; it is not a small feat to resonate with the air of vintage modal jazz and rhythm & blues in a rock band setting in 2023! Then again, as I later found out in the press release, these songs have been recorded live to analog tape, with no overdubs, as if to pay proper homage to the esoteric craft. It is yet another unusual feat these days.

The magnum opus of the album comes in the shape of “Rosita,” a 16-minute epic infused with the soulful sounds of decades long gone. Here and there, the gargantuan track resonates with the air of Joe Cocker‘s cover rendition of THE BEATLES classic, “With A Little Help From My Friends,” as delivered on the stage of the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Yes, the song is the pinnacle track on the album, no questions about it! As if to drive the point home with a little more force, “Counterfeit Love” steps into the realm of the dark emissaries of hippie rock, THE DOORS. The Farfisa organ has not sounded this diabolically delicious since the release of “Light My Fire.” I think I’m running out of superlatives with this album…

After a few more gritty riff maelstroms and ballads, the album brings things to a close with “Queen of Space & Time,” a 5-minute journey into the seductive darkness of the in-between states of consciousness when you’re not yet asleep but not fully awake either. I guess the album title is also trying to suggest something to this effect. It would work rather nicely in tandem with the Steinbeck quote, “the good story lay in half-told things which must be filled in out of the hearer’s own experience.” These soul boys are definitely familiar with it.

The band’s 2021 studio album, “Wolffpack,” their highest-charting effort so far, seems to be facing tough competition from their new outing; holed up in the rural surroundings of Brittany, this old-school bunch created some of their most soulful and definitely most rousing material to date. If I’m not mistaken, R&B is essentially dance music and, while I’m not really into that sort of physical activity much, if the music is this damn good – what the hell! – you can pencil me into your dance card right now!

Written by Jani Lehtinen

Tracklist

  1. Night Train
  2. Heart Stopping Kinda Show
  3. Will o’ the Wisp
  4. Jackie Go To Sleep
  5. Rosita
  6. Mr. Garbage Man
  7. Counterfeit Love
  8. Message For My Baby
  9. Gilded (Ruin of Love)
  10. Pure Love
  11. Wontcha Wontcha
  12. Queen of Space & Time

Lineup

Pablo van de Poel – vocals, guitars

Luka van de Poel – drums, vocals

Robin Piso – Hammond organ, Wurlitzer piano

Label

Mascot Records

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