One man to another says, "My wife went to the West Indies". The other asks, "Jamaica?" The reply is "No, she went of her own accord". Apologies for the lame joke, but it seemed appropriate to start a review for a reggae type band. However France where the Drunk Souls hail from is far from the first country that comes to mind when when considering reggae but to be fair the band cover more musical terrain than just music aimed at dreadlocked spliff smokers.
The album kicks off with the funky "Drifter's song" which gives no indication of what the listener is in for. The second song, "Human Race" is early 80's bouncy ska and is the strongest song on the album so it's no surprise the band's video has received a large number of views although the inclusion in a documentary about a French highline tightrope walking, base-jumping, and mountaineering group definitely helped. The video is below and well worth a squiz.
If Sting ever jammed with The Specials, they'd come up with a song similar to "Africa" which starts out like adult jazz mixed with pop but then the bouncy ska sound skanks over. "L'amour Dieteque" doesn't really fit in the album due to its slow sombreness changing the mood. The tight bouncy "Sullivan Story" is reminiscent of The English Beat. "Happy Death Day" slows the mood again and has Peter Gabriel written all over it.
In this day and age, it's refreshing whenever a band has their own website even if it does just link to the present standards of facebook etc. It's not difficult to imagine "Revolution" being played during summer when everyone around is wearing and barbecues are blazing and beers are freely flowing and it's also easy imagine these guys playing outdoors on a bill with Fat Freddy's Drop as the audience burn in the sun.
3/5
Video for "Human Race"
Drunk Souls website
Drunk Souls on facebook
Small Takeover on facebook
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