Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Howl

Returning to their native San Francisco, Peter Hayes and Robert Turner have shed their well-worn garage band tunes, instead opting to sit down with a couple of acoustics and turn their heads to the light. The celebratory jam session at the core of opening track ‘Shuffle Your Feet’ sets the tone for a record that brushes through beatnik heraldry (‘Howl’), snakey blues, (‘Ain’t No Easy Way’) barrelhouse-piano balladry (Promise) and epic drone-rock (The Line). What emerges most startling from these tracks is the sheer quality of the vocals. Both Hayes and Turner – now Robert Levon Been – grapple with coursing blues melodies, tender laments and Spiritualized (yes, they’re still in there) influenced ambience with a new-found strength – only falling short once during album filler ‘Still Suspicion Holds You Tight’. Yet this is but a minor complaint on a record made by a band who by all accounts were certified dead some time ago.

BRMC have been resurrected and re-tuned. Howl is a clear indication that it’s time for us to start reaping the rewards. If they aren’t smiling yet, they soon will be.