White Denim
D
Downtown Music
If you ever see Austin’s White Denim live,
there’s a fair chance that at some point in the
evening you’ll witness the most rippin’ band
on the planet. Still, the real shape-shifting
beauty of White Denim has always been the
range of contexts to which they apply their
chops. They may do their share of free jammin’,
but they are a song-first band. That collision
of aesthetics defines their fourth release
D, as well. These may be White Denim’s
strongest songs yet, and the playful and
inspired sense of
arrangement and
texture that the
band applies in
the studio simultaneously
lends
ballast and make
these tunes soar.
The territory covered on D borders on
mind-blowing at times. Lead guitarist James
Petralli’s deft and funkily nimble-fingered
fret work is built on a super-clean tone that
evokes Groundhog Tony “TS” McPhee’s
darting Stratocaster work on
Who Will Save
the World, some of Jimmy Page’s
Presence
and In Through the Out Door sounds, and
Ollie Halsall’s work with Patto (he even
nicks the guitar hook from Patto’s “Hold
Me Back” on “It’s Him”).
The rest of the band—Joshua Block
on drums, Steve Terebecki on bass, and
newcomer Austin Jenkins on second
guitar—are a fantastically cohesive and
telepathic bunch. And the spacious production—
which often has the clarity and atmosphere
of the Flaming Lips’ grandiose later
work—gives the band room to exhibit their
teamwork and tasteful virtuosity.
In the hands of a less skilled and inspired
bunch,
D could have been a style-leaping
train wreck. Instead, the band and the
record leapfrog from hyperactive Skynyrd-as-prog breakdowns and melancholy Moody
Blues-y balladry to passages reminiscent
of the Grateful Dead’s most fiery and illuminated
moments with an ease and joyful
sincerity that make this one of the most
exciting and beguiling releases of 2011.