Description
After forming in 2009 in Athens, Ala., the quartet recorded Boys & Girls in anonymity, using money scraped together from gigs as a cover band. Nothing was at stake. Now, everything is: Underdogs no more, Alabama Shakes are festival mainstays, widely recognized as the leading lights of this new wave of vintage-rock archeologists. But the baggage that often comes with sky-high expectations isn’t detectable, as Sound & Color has the same freewheeling energy of its predecessor. It’s not that the band members are aloof — they’re just that gifted. When they expand their sonic palette here — folding in the slinking pop grooves of Stevie Wonder, the spastic garage rock of MC5 and the smoldering soul of Smokey Robinson — it feels like you’re walking through a thrift store with a supermodel, where everything she tries on fits perfectly.
