Raze Regal & White Denim Inc.

Chronique

Guitarists Raze Regal and White Denim's James Petralli have been friends since touring together around 2018, bonding over their shared love of jazz fusion, psych-rock, soul, and punk. They bring all of those combined influences to bear on their 2023's collaboration Raze Regal & White Denim, Inc. Regal, who first garnered attention for his work with New York punk act Stalkers, met Petralli while working with Once & Future Band. Following that group's dissolution, he moved to Petralli's home of Austin, Texas, where the duo continued to hang out and eventually started working on music. Essentially, their collaboration sounds like a more jazz- and prog-inflected version of White Denim's garagey psychedelia. It's a vibe the group have been experimenting with since at least 2013's Corsicana Lemonade and which feels like a natural evolution. Regal has a similar style to Petralli's, marked by crisp improvisational riffs and chordal accents that straddle the line between fuzz-tone rock and '70s jazz fusion. It's an evocative style that brings to mind a punky take on players like Larry Coryell, Duane Allman, and George Benson. Cuts like the opening "Ashley Goudeau," "The Hustle in You," and "Dislocation" have a laid-back yet hooky sound that calls to mind classic sides by Steely Dan and the Isley Brothers. There's a tactile, analog atmosphere to Regal and White Denim's work, marked by woozy synths, vibraphones, and sundry guitar sounds, like on the intro to "Blood," where their shiny guitar and keyboard hits sounds unexpectedly like the opening to a '70s-era TV sitcom like Three's Company. Elsewhere, they conjure a kinetically thrilling, '80s post-punk energy on "Tivoli" and slide into the summery, Stevie Wonder-esque romanticism of "Idle Later."

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