(2018) Jeff the Brotherhood - Magick Songs
Review:
For most indie-rock bands, signing to a major label hardly presents the moral quandary it did, say, 25 years ago. In fact, these days, you barely even notice when it happens. (“I’m so bummed the War on Drugs signed to Atlantic,” said no one ever.) However, the destabilizing effects of getting dropped by a major label are as acute as they ever were. Back in the 1990s, even the most hardened and savvy indie-rock insurrectionists — be it the Jesus Lizard or Archers of Loaf — were never really the same after they got demoted from the big leagues. And in the more recent case of JEFF the Brotherhood, even an act that openly celebrated its dismissal from a major label can’t help but emerge from the experience a changed band.
For brothers-in-rock Jake and Jamin Orrall, signing to Warner Bros. in 2012 seemed like the natural next-level move after a prolific decade-long run that saw them harness their distortion-caked racket into radio-ready power pop. Alas, their warm ‘n’ fuzzy Warner debut, Hypnotic Nights, barely cracked the Billboard Top 200, proving that a Dan Auerbach production credit isn’t enough to turn your band into the next Black Keys. With 2015’s Wasted on the Dream, JEFF the Brotherhood took another crack at selling themselves as the world’s most sanguine stoner-rock band, but Warner opted to drop the Bros mere weeks before the album was set to be released. (The band’s own Infinity Cat imprint stepped in to rush-release it.) Since then, JEFF the Brotherhood have seemingly been torn between going back to garage-greased brass tacks (2016’s Zone) or stepping more forcefully on the motorik gas pedal (2015’s Global Chakra Rhythms). But with Magick Songs, we feel the true aftershocks of their ill-fated Warner experience. Having made a concerted effort to court the mainstream only to have their advances rebuffed, the Orralls have come to the conclusion that there’s really no reason for JEFF the Brotherhood to sound anything like JEFF the Brotherhood anymore.
It’s a rare thing for a rock band to genuinely surprise you on its 13th album, so credit the group—a two-piece outfit that once limited itself to three-string guitars—for completely blowing up any pre-existing notions you may have had of their band or their music. On Magick Songs, the Brotherhood function more like an extended family, thanks to the official recruitment of Raconteurs/Dead Weather bassist Jack Lawrence and multi-instrumentalist Kunal Prakash, along with guest vocals from Jenna Moynihan (of Nashville indie-pop trio Daddy Issues) and crucial contributions from Bully bassist Reece Lazarus—on clarinet. Ironically, JEFF the Brotherhood have finally blossomed into a proper rock band on an album that thoroughly deconstructs the idea of what a proper rock band should sound like.
Tracklist:
01 - Focus On the Magick.flac
02 - Camel Swallowed Whole.flac
03 - Singing Garden.flac
04 - Parachute.flac
05 - Celebration.flac
06 - Locator.flac
07 - Wasted Lands.flac
08 - Relish.flac
09 - The Mother.flac
10 - Magick Man.flac
11 - Heavy Journey.flac
12 - Farewell to the Sun.flac
Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: indie-rock, psychedelic rock
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~ 688-806 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits
