Children! Have you gotten hip to the new swingin’ sounds of All Them Witches? Lend me a moment to bend your ear about them. They first came into my sphere of consciousness with a press release announcing the release of their live album. Now I’m no slouch in keeping up with what the kids these days are into, and having never heard of these gentlemen before, I found a live album release perhaps a bit presumptuous. It was, of course, explained as them being “a live band” needing to “capture our energetic performance.”
Being that only band this has ever truly been the case for is The Who, I was dubious. And yet I am a sucker for Witch bands- the very inclusion of that word in a band name seems to be a not-so-secret code for Band That I Will Like: Witch, Witchburn, Witchfinder General, Witchcraft, Witch Mountain, Bell Witch, Skeletonwitch. All in heavy rotation on my Phonograph of Doom. I will not say I was blown away by what I heard, but I was compelled to keep them on my radar.
Well. When I got a hold of 2014’s “Lightning At The Door,” I understood what the fuss was about, and forgave them the (perhaps) premature making of a live album. I still decline to agree that they’re primarily a live band, as their studio output more than adequately demonstrates their considerable talents, but that’s coming from someone who has not yet seen them live in person- just in video. Maybe there’s truly something I’m missing there which puts them over the top. Regardless, their recordings leave me plenty satisfied.
The drums, dry as a septuagenarian’s love socket in the Arizona summer, seem to be transmitted from the inside of a large, empty, wooden crate- and impart the kind of loneliness and desolation one would no doubt experience if one were to find themselves inside said crate. I don’t mean to imply that any one instrument here is more critical to the sound than another, but the drumming is what keeps the songs on the highway and away from the exit for Another Run-of-the-Mill Psych-Blues Jamville. It churns along under the fuzzing and sliding, jazzy fills supporting the sonic interest of the leads. Guitars, though nothing to scoff at when it comes to what they say, speak in familiar voices: there’s no reinvention of tone here; no trademark character. However, in the spirit of “if it ain’t broke…,” sometimes it’s more pleasant to encounter a well-loved old friend than make a new one just for newness’ sake. The unique sonic imprint here comes more from the interplay of instruments and, to a lesser extent, the unpolished vocals- this is not a singer who is concerned with completing each phrase in affected, trained tones. The hard r’s and brittle vowels impart authenticity, as though his natural speaking voice is filtering through. And when employed on a track which is recited more than sung, it brings to mind an infinitely less pretentious version of The Doors’ “The End.”
It is not ground-breaking; this is true. But all the same, it’s worth giving a turn for well-crafted, evocative songs that employ both blues and psychedelic tropes with ample enough forward momentum to keep them from sounding stale.
ETA: I caught these guys live last week, and I can now confirm that there’s nothing about them live that would convince someone on the fence about their recordings to call themselves a fan. I mean, there was nothing wrong with the performance, it just didn’t inspire anything in me that I didn’t already get from the album- it wasn’t like the difference between a GWAR album and a live show, fer sure. Also, they have a new release that I haven’t heard yet because they didn’t have it on vinyl, but I have high hopes for it.