Okay, so I’ve been wanting to write something about the Alabama Shake’s most recent album, Sound and Color since I first heard it, but it seems most major music reviewers have beaten me to the punch and written up pretty much every possible review you can imagine. Therefore, I decided to do something a little different.

Before we get to that I should probably give an overview of my opinion of the album, so here is my review:

This album is fucking amazing. I mean, seriously, it’s about time Brittany Howard (the lead singer) becomes a household name. The album spans the genre of rock, with elements of both new age sound and retro, gritty rock n roll. In an era where originality in music is becoming harder and harder to come by, the arrangement and emotion behind this album is surprisingly refreshing.

Now that that’s out of the way, on to what I really wanted to do with this album. Each song on this album brings something different to the table. As a whole, this album will make you feel all the feels, and because of the range, each track has a way to support a unique visual experience. Pairing art with art. Below is how I feel each song should be represented visually. Here we go…

SPOTIFY STREAM OF THE ALBUM

Track 1: Sound and Color

The band has already made a music video for this song, and it is the perfect visual. Both the song and the theme of the video really set the tone for the album. The track starts off very minimal and ambient and slowly builds with rhythmic drums and soothing vocals from Howard. All in all, it’s a pretty awe inspiring song, and you can see how the scene of a man discovering the vastness of the universe fits directly with what the band is portraying.

Track 2: Don’t Wanna Fight

This is the single off of the album, and is therefore what you may (or may not) have heard before. If this is the only track you’ve heard, and you are going in order, you can already see the contrast between this song and the intro track. This song really brings a retro feel (a theme on this album), with a catchy hook and really gritty guitar and drums. Again, the band provides us with a visual with displays of minimal geometric designs that pairs well.

Track 3: Dunes

Again, the track has the same gritty feel to it, with boisterous guitars and splashy drums. This song feels very 1970s rock and roll, I mean, I can almost picture my one of my parents smoking a joint listening to this on vinyl while my grandparents tell them to turn it down. Therefore, I paired it with a visual very similar to that description.

Track 4: Future People

Okay, this is the track really shows the vocal prowess of Howard. AND the melody of the drums and guitar on this song are fucking catchy. Beyond that, this track is driven with a message, a message that our generation and really just all people in general need to hear. Howard sings "Children, Take or leave it, come people, you got to give a little to get a little, and see it like future people" GUYS. LIVE LIKE YOU ARE THE FUTURE. Here is an absolutely mind blowing live version of the song. While this entire album can be matched with 'color' that depicts the message in each track, I think its nice to let this one be defined by 'sound'.

Track 5: Gimme All Your Love

This song is emotion. It’s sadness, it’s frustration, it’s desire. I mean, you can see someone pleading for passion from someone who won’t show it. There is authority in this sadness. The drums really power through the chorus and, alongside Howard’s powerful voice, lead to a really intense sound. The track also takes a detour about halfway through, and brings in this upbeat jam with very similarly impactful drums. I picked something that shares the dark raw emotion of this song. It’s a polaroid from photographer/videographer Adam Bove

Track 6: This Feeling

Plain and simple, this is the calm after the storm of Gimme All Your love. This is the silver lining. After the emotion and turmoil comes the respite. The Shakes do a good job reigning in the emotion and sadness and turning it on its head. This is calm happiness; this is the moment you finally realize that heartbreak doesn’t mean you’re gonna die. Life goes on, which is why I paired it with this video from graphic designer T Tagholm.

Track 7: Guess Who

This song comes with a simple message. Life is tough, people are weird, and we have to deal with it. The main line in this song is straight forward, and speaks to all of us. “All I really want is peace of mind”. The lyrics are simple, the melody isn’t complex, but it’s all you need. Relax and enjoy this one.

Track 8: The Greatest

This is fun music. The drum pattern has you jumping up and down from the beginning, and the organ accompanying the tenacious guitar is the music of summer; of getting out of work (or school) getting in your car, rolling the windows down, and fucking driving… which is why this video from Harry Callahan is great

Track 9: Shoegaze

I love the message that this song brings. There are times in life when you feel lonely, sad, whatever, but in the end good experiences cancel out the bad, and make things pretty okay. You can’t have everything, I mean we wish we could, but we can’t. This track flows really well in and out of verses and guitar riffs and shows that life is cool I guess. That’s why I picked this picture from Asher Moss, he has some really beautiful landscape shots and shows that the world can be pretty cool too.

Track 10: Miss You

I don’t know about you, but no genre speaks to me about lonliness and true longing like blues, and the shakes bring an all-out blues experience on this one. Channeling their inner BB-King, the Shakes really show their southern roots and dig deep into the emotion of this song. Missing someone but still wanting them… it’s the type of shit that makes you wanna scream. Its messy, and its crazy. So play this and scream. Oh, and look at the pretty crazy messy picture from Joe Pagoda I picked too.

Track 11: Gemini

Ugh these lyrics are so fucking cool. It really brings back in the idea presented in the video for the intro track, of the universe and our place in it. The very simplistic drums contrast the complexity of the guitar solos and lyrics. I’m still trying to wrap my head around exactly what this track means, and therefore I paired this track with an image from Sonja Barbaric that involves the same amount of intricacy.

Track 12: Over My Head

This is another track that focuses around a singular phrase. “Love him so deeply I’m in over my head”. Howard uses these lyrics to make an insanely beautiful chorus by layering her vocals, making this my favorite song on the album. I mean, I love hip hop and the drums in this almost feel like a trap beat. Hi hats, sharp snare, and a clap break down… yeah its just great. That, along with the emotion the shakes portray about loving someone, led me to pick this really beautiful piece of art from the Glasstress 2015 Gotika exhibition during the Venice Biennale 2015.

Color for the sounds of Sound and Color by Joe Scannell