A Music Review: "Lift Your Spirit" By Aloe Blacc

A review of Aloe Blacc's "Lift Your Spirit," released March 11, 2014

The Artwork

Lift Your Spirit’s artwork presents the Aloe Blacc’s record as artistic when, in reality, what’s inside is nothing more than by-the-numbers, middle-of-the-road pop blues with a bit of a modern touch. The cover is beautifully shot, but not in any way indicative of what is inside.

The Good

I’m going to push myself way, way out on a limb here and assume you’ve heard the best song on this record, “Wake Me Up,” in its most popular form, the Avicii version that’s currently playing everywhere. Here on Lift Your Spirit is an acoustic rendition that is much less “in-your-face” and much more personal and pleasing. Here, strings replace the synths, the tempo is more relaxed, and it’s shorter. All around, it’s a bit better. The only other truly good song on Lift Your Spirit is “The Hand is Quicker” which steps out of Blacc’s troubadour outfit into an experimental dubstep blues that feels like you’re wading through syrup with a unique, awkward melody and peculiar backing vocals and horns.

The Ok

Aloe Blacc knew he had something good with “Wake Me Up,” so they tried to repeat that success with the similarly acoustic “Ticking Bomb” that halfway succeeds, but fails due to his very loud bluesman’s voice that just doesn’t match the reserved intensity of the music. “Love is the Answer” goes in Stevie Wonder’s direction, but with its cheesy lyrics, it’s hard to imagine him ever really singing it. “The Man,” the newest single, really could be a great song, because it’s benefitting from its use of a very famous Elton John refrain. Problem is, it took that great part and drove it into the ground and made a very incomplete, and very annoying chorus out of it. It tried too hard to have its cake and eat it too.

The Terrible (every album has at least one, don’t deny it)

Aloe Blacc’s bad songs on Lift Your Spirit just suffer from seemingly having no idea what makes a song enjoyable to listen to. The worst songs just drone on and on with boring ideas that feel never ending. “Here Today” is an uncool, 80s inspired song about the fleetingness of fame and “Can You Do This” is a 50s surf-rock number that seems like it was made solely so Blacc could have a “Hey Ya” type of crowd participation song to impose upon his concert-goers. “Chasing” is just a inept, mostly traditional (i.e. dull) blues, “Red Velvet Seat” is a half-assed attempt at a D’Angelo impression from someone who seems intent on ignoring what makes D’Angelo great, and “Owe It All” is a tribute to mothers that just sounds like one never-ending improvised melody.

The Verdict

There is some great, great music here on Aloe Blacc’s third record. The band and production are both very modern, with a lot of throwback sounds placed here and there. And those horns got stuck in my head constantly. Except, it’s very boring. For the most part, these songs are traditionally structured and have traditional melodies. No one is stepping out of the box here. Blacc’s voice is the only unique feature, and it seems really out of place most of the time. It doesn’t seem to be able to convey any emotional range other than “loud blues singer,” which he does very well, but these songs don’t always call for. Sometimes they need emotive crooning, or a touching falsetto, and he never really gets there.

I do imagine him having a lot of fun recording this record with all the horn players and the yelling and the laughing on the tracks, but fun doesn’t always equal a serious record, and a serious record this is not. If you’re looking for something to pass through once, maybe twice, then Lift Your Spirit may be your record, but otherwise, it’s safe to just wait for “Wake Me Up” on the radio.

The Final Rating: 3/10