DeWolff
Southern comforts: DeWolff follow their dreams to Alabama.
★★★★
Muscle Shoals
MASCOT. CD/DL/LP
Dutch blues-rock trio’s pilgrimage to the heart of the American South.
BARELY INTO their thirties, this hard touring, bass-free threesome from Geleen in southern Netherlands here dispense their tenth long-player in 17 years – a dream outing which saw them record, as per title, in the legendary studios of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Domestically chart-topping (2021’s Wolffpack was only beaten by Foo Fighters), these youngsters freely admit their influences: “The Black Crowes were like our Beatles,” they say, and their mission to the hotbed of ’60s/70s soul was equally inspired by The Black Keys’ Brothers, recorded in 2009 at Muscle Shoals Sound. Captured between MSS and FAME, their endeavours span from In Love’s Black Keys-ish contemporary pop-soul, where siblings Pablo (guitar/vocals) and Luka van de Poel (drums/vocals) bring whip-smart rhythmic shifts, through to Truce’s Crowes-style unreconstructed Southern boogie, with further shades of Deep Purplish prog on Ophelia thanks to Robin Piso’s surging Hammond organ. With chops, enthusiasm and tunes, the lowlanders deserve Anglo-American recognition.