The Afghan Whigs – In Spades (Sub Pop)

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This is the second installation since the rebirth of Greg Dulli’s Afghan Whigs took place in 2012. With as many members of The Twilight Singers as original Afghans on board, it’s clearly Dulli’s project all the way. This time around, he’s re-tooled the band’s sound a bit, but not the overarching, and ever-present, dark themes.

With a sinister looking demon-like figure, complete with horns, presiding over the album artwork, Greg Dulli’s music definitely hasn’t turn all sunshine, lollipops and roses. But with the addition of strings and horns, and less emphasis on guitars, Dulli has found a different way to channel those dark forces.

Original Afghan’s guitarist Rick McCullum has left the band, leaving bassist John Curley as the only other constant in the group. This time around the band is filled out by former Greenhornes and Raconteurs drummer Patrick Keeler along with Dave Rosser, Rick Nelson and Skibic handling guitars, keyboards and strings. Both Nelson and Rosser are holdovers from The Twilight Singers.

The album opens with Birdland, a song inspired by Dulli’s childhood. Instead of a crushing guitar riff, the track begins with surging strings and angelic female vocals, then a stabbing, insistent viola darkens the mood along with Dulli’s pained, cracked vocal.

The guitars are not completely absent, however. In fact three of them slam through on the next track, Arabian Heights, as Keeler’s urgent drum beat propels the track while Dulli sings, “Throw a spider on the corner of the dance floor”.

Even if you suffer from arachnophobia, this track with have you rocking.

Demon In Profile (see cover art) begins with Dulli’s piano, but by the end he’s saturated the sonics with strings and horns….plus three guitars. I found the production so dense that listening with headphones didn’t do the music justice, a big, old-fashioned stereo system is called for to let the music breathe.

Dulli’s wall of sound continues on Toy Automatic, with his own vocal struggling to be heard over the din. Again its horns and strings that take up most of the sonic space.

For me, the album gels mid-way through. Copernicus, The Spell and Light As A Feather find the right balance between the new, horns and strings driven thing and the classic guitar-driven sound.

The over-blown production takes over again for penultimate track, I Got Lost, then Dulli ends things in dramatic fashion with Into The Floor as big dramatic guitar chords set the stage for a swirling vortex of sound.

Its clear Greg Dulli is not satisfied to rest on past achievements. He’s obviously still challenging himself and his fans. And fortunately the new sounds and production ideas work most of the time.

Marty Duda

 

 

Marty Duda
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