Exorcist

Album review

Exorcist is Selwyn Birchwood's fourth long-player for Alligator. The Florida guitar slinger and band's "electric swamp funkin’ blues" is again produced by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge. It was recorded by Aaron Gandia and Pete Lutringer at Phat Planet Studios in Orlando. Where Birchwood's kaleidoscopic musical aesthetic has, in the past, occasionally sounded cluttered, the balance on Exorcist is almost perfect. Birchwood's unique frontline with saxophonist Regi Oliver framing his six-string and lap steel guitars is unchanged as keyboardist Ed Krout, bassist Donald "Huff" Wright, and drummer Byron "Bizzy" Garner, and trio of backing singers (Charlyce Simmons, Vanessa Hawkins, and Eric Green) fill out the personnel. Opener "Done Cryin'" weds soul, blues, and a Santana-esque Latin groove driven by horns, Wurlitzer piano, and a Hammond B-3. Birchwood's deep, sly, baritone vocal indicts a former lover for cruelty. Sunshine State politicians like Governor Ron DeSantis will likely disapprove of "Florida Man." With its lyrics offering tales of the bizarre ripped straight from the headlines -- taking alligators to the beer store, getting high on face-eating bath salts, automotive drinking only at stop lights, shooting at hurricanes, etc. According to Birchwood's lyric Florida is where "... the wild west meets the dirty south." The band opens with a rockist sprint before backing into steamy, horn-driven funk, appended with slap bass, ringing organ, and squalling lap steel breaks. "Horns Below Her Halo" is a sultry midtempo modern blues whose protagonist requires deliverance from bad romantic entanglements. Atop a swampy backdrop Birchwood observes, "I think Satan must be a woman/That’s why they call him Lucif-her…." "Underdog" follows with snaky, labyrinthine guitar- and keyboard-fueled urban funk. Birchwood responds to life's unfairness in the lyric, "My whole damn life people saying you're not good enough… Who are you to think you could measure up?/It's my instinct to give the finger, I just lift it up…." before lighting into a bumping lap steel break as keys, bass, drums, and saxes deepen the fat groove. "Lazarus" is a strolling soul-blues where Birchwood interacts with the chorus and saxophonist in call-and-response. "Plenty to Be Grateful for" gives Chicago blues and gospel a Memphis blues tinge. "Call Me What You Want to Mister" updates T-Bone Walker's and Louis Jordan's jump blues with an electrified, fingerpopping swing. It introduces the scorch and burn of "My Own Worst Enemy," a knotty modern blues with punchy jazz horns atop a funky Latin shuffle. Birchwood's gritty, expressive vocal adds depth, while his angry guitar delivers taut emotional emphasis. Exorcist is Birchwood's tightest, most adventurous set to date in his quest to create a contemporary context for the reinvention of American blues.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo