Out-of-time soul that is inspired by gospel and very sexy at the same time.
Times are changing, the world is out of control, but some certainties will never change: a proper soul career still best starts in a church. In any case, it was there, in a house of worship in Georgia, that Brother Wallace performed in public for the first time. He was eleven years old at the time. At 14 he took over the direction of the choir, later he worked as a music teacher and has now recorded his first album with the help of Dan Taylor, the guitarist of The Heavy. Their idea of retro soul can definitely be heard on ELECTRIC LOVE, but the gospel sounds even more clearly – and not just in songs like “Ain’t No God In This Town”.
In fact, on his late debut, the soul singer reactivates the squaring of the circle that classic soul has always been: with a powerful voice, he celebrates love in all its manifestations between sin and praise of God. The rhythm is sexy and the harmonies rise high into the sky, the brass rejoice like a choir full of angels, and the piano sometimes imitates a church organ and then pulsates like a lustful heart. “Who Do You Love?” asks Brother Wallace, declaring himself a “man on a mission,” but it is never entirely clear whether it is a lover he wants to convince or a doubting believer. One thing is certain: “The path to choose is always love.”
But in conclusion, in “Me and My Running Shoes”the brother lets the slide guitar clatter as if Robert Johnson were selling his soul to the devil a second time. Along the way, Brother Wallace even revives and defends the political dimension of soul from the Civil Rights era “Hope Of Fools” Democracy: “Somehow I keep on smiling / Cuz my vote counts.” The world may be out of joint, ELECTRIC LOVE brings soul and body back together, at least for a few moments.
