Howl

Maybe it was the incessant comparisons to the Jesus & Mary Chain and then again, perhaps the reason why Howl is a dramatic departure from their previous albums is simply because, like many musicians entering their 30s, they discovered the golden roots of rock ‘n’ roll. Howl is deeply steeped in country, blues and black American spiritual music, starting with the gospel-inspired a cappella crooning on “Shuffle Your Feet.” This acoustic opener is trimmed with tambourines, handclaps, harmonica which all culminates to play like the Brian Jonestown Massacre taking Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce to a Sunday morning Baptist mass. The similarly rootsy “Devil’s Waitin’” makes sense of the T-Bone Burnett credit in the liner notes, while songs like “Complicated Situation” and “Weight of the World” return the band to their penchant for gripping narrative tension.