By Todd Lavoie
It’s Not How Far You Fall, It’s the Way You Land – a dead-on appropriate proclamation, indeed, for Britain’s pre-eminent emissaries of unsettled downtempo electro-soul and whiskey-and-gin street corner spirituality, Soulsavers, whose breakthrough Red Ink/Columbia release glows like divine inspiration wafting out of the darkest gutter. Consider the title a riff on the whole “it’s not the journey, it’s the destination” mantra – only in this case, the daily affirmation comes from a rough-and-ragged 12-step program that says failure is inevitable but redemption is possible. Redemption with style – ah, even better.
And what style it is. Producers-electronic wizards-consummate tastemakers Rich Machin and Ian Glover cook up languid rhythms, rawboned organ arrangements, and ominous string samples – along with bringing in some evocative lap-steel guitar and weepy six-string twang from session musicians – to create brooding, occasionally post-apocalyptic soundscapes that could speak plenty of lurid truths all by themselves, as evidenced on their mostly instrumental debut, 2003’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance (San Quentin). The recipe’s been improved on their latest, thanks to the lead-vocal contributions of Will Oldham, Jimi Goodwin (Doves), and – the greatest coup of all – the gravel-wrapped-in-velvet baritone Mark Lanegan, whose eight contributions inform the album’s duality of forbidding menace and soothing sanctity.
Even better, they’ve upped the ante with the addition of gospel heroics from backing vocalists Wendy Rose and Lena Palmer – perhaps best known for setting fires behind Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds on their last album and tour. The result is a potent futuristic-gospel – witness opener “Revival,” a thundering transmission from the River of Jordan, Lanegan leading Rose and Palmer in a tearful baptism while the flames rise around them. Cover-lovers, begin your rejoicing: Lanegan’s and Oldham’s duet on Neil Young’s “Through My Sails” is pure lip-biting heartbreak. Soulsavers, you’ve made a believer out of me.
Soulsavers, with Mark Lanegan, appear Saturday, Dec. 1, 9 p.m., at the Independent, 628 Divisadero, SF. Great Northern opens. $18. (415) 771-1422.