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Listen to: The Afghan Whigs – In Spades

The Afghan Whigs are back with new LP In Spades
The Afghan Whigs are back with new LP In Spades The Afghan Whigs are back with new LP In Spades

THE reactivated soulful alt-rockers are back with the follow-up to 2014's well-received Do To The Beast LP.

The Cincinnati-bred band sound in fine fettle throughout In Spades, nimbly shifting musical gears mid-song during the prowling stomp of Copernicus to cruise out in swelling sunset rock style: the bombastic, drum-loop propelled get-up and groove of the chucklesomely titled Arabian Heights and lead single Demon In Profile's funky, horn-assisted come-on are another pair of stand-out moments.

Having honed his singing via a decade of work with post-Whigs projects The Twilight Singers and The Gutter Twins (with Mark Lanegan), frontman Dulli's voice has never sounded better than on Oriole and The Spell, a musically contrasting pair of laments – the former mellow and plaintive, the latter increasingly angsty – which find the singer hitting those tricky high notes like they owe him rent.

Dulli successfully tries on a softer, breathier approach from behind the piano for the slow-building confessional I Got Lost, while Into The Floor's singed, slowly unspooling finale has the Whigs' frontman wailing and crooning like a soul man possessed – possibly by the ghost of the keyboard motif from Don Henley's Boys of Summer.

A couple of spins of this short 'n' sharp record (10 songs in 36 minutes) and you'll surely want to catch the Whigs live in Dublin at The Academy on May 28.