Roots Of Creation’s latest album, Dub Free Or Die vol. 1, feels more dance hall than anything they’ve done in the past. While it feels more dance hall due to the sea sawing dub grooves, the horns, guitars, vocals, and everything else still cozies up to the listener like a familiar friend.
Opening track “Are You My Uber” rocks as comfortable as grandma in her old rocking chair. Keyboards and rhythm section will have listeners swaying before they even more their feet. A horn swell swoops over this instrumental with gentle aplomb. Eventually, Brett Wilson’s lead guitar chimes in with a smooth, thick presence that closes this dandy with a sense of largeness.
“Kamp Kaniff Elixir” marches to a thick weepy synthesizer line. Around that march ROC members inject tasteful bits of reggae flavored horn, horns that hopscotch the sonic landscape in a sweet dance. All of the cool funky drums and percussion bits ROC is known for circles the groove while the upper registers rise up in high pretty notes. It is how ROC casually tosses so much into the work to make it a fun, intriguing piece.
“Arabia” grooves along with Wilson’s sweet, brittle riffs. Everyone following his pied piper notes come in even stronger, drums and bass forming a density of groove, horns sweetly bleating their soulfulness, all coming together in jaunty motions. It is all the perky little motions going on here that give this some edgy twists as well as a fun momentum. Wilson quickens the pace with speedier, more accented phrasing and it’s like candy, juicy and chunky at once.
Moving to a squirming, snaking groove, “Light It Up” instantly becomes a party favorite. Wilson’s part party guitar, part psychedelic guitar dances its phrase around with much speed and light, moving so fast it creates brilliant sparks. Andrew Riordan’s seductive dance of saxophone notes makes this piece come alive in a whole different way. Riordan and Wilson push toward the ending with a precise interchange of notes. Perfect.
“Black Bear Dub” is as badass and as dance-able as its title suggests. There’s lots of deep, dark low end instrumentation blended with a pumping groove. The feet can feel what the rhythm section wants it to do. Wiry upper register instruments spiral their melodies with force, Wilson’s guitar leading the charge with a phrase that’s as indescribable as a UFO. It just makes its buzzing phrase come out of mid-air. This piece’s motions will also put the dance hall in motion.
“Cornsoakers” slip into the listener’s consciousness by way of Wilson’s carefully picked electric guitar line. Its sublime tone wafts around this piece like a graceful bird taking flight its own way. The remainder of the instrumentalists follow suit, playing unusual patterns and tones. A low end patter soothes as a horn section rises up with a bulbous march of its own to meet the now wiry, speedy guitar lines flying out of the stereo speakers. It’s all so engaging.
A horn section makes a mountain of melody out of White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.” This arrangement marches forward with a sly guitar darting around the swell of horns which somehow quickly transform into a thinner, singular horn line, a high pitched teasing sound that engages as much as Wilson’s slippery guitar ride. Each instrumentalist has his way with this piece, each making it his own, turning this into a three dimensional rendition.
“Interlude” has the eerie, forlorn quality of an early Rush mellow lead guitar intro, Wilson grinds out some seriously fierce tones before crash landing into “Mammoth,” a monster guitar centered work. Not only does Wilson impress with his variety of possible paths he could bring his guitar along, he spearheads the other players into giving it their all. Drumming and bass guitar playing flexibly follow along, giving it all a perfect flexible spine. It’s the sum of the parts forming the whole that make this one rock.
A jazzy cruiser, “Woman,” built up from light touches on each instrument, hovers beautifully and symbolic in mid-air. Like a cloud, it is simply there. A pretty keyboard melody travels over a mellow reggae groove and alongside a sublime, understated guitar line. This song makes it on presence alone, its place in the sonic landscape being supported by all the lifeblood from each player.
“White Noise Rain For Sleeping Roots Babies” is an intriguing sound effect. One actually believes it was raining inside the studio while ROC recorded it. Segue into another take on “Light It Up,” this one features Mighty Mystic at the microphone, rapping and singing his freewheeling, positive attitude. Again, the party vibe makes for a lot of fun as Mighty Mystic kicks it into a flamboyant vocal overdrive. Riordan’s saxophone becomes a torch lit focal point, swaggering around like a big band leader pulling all of the players in behind his line.
Another take on White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” rocks out on guitar, horns, and a driving version of the reggae pulse. This one has vocals from the ubiquitous Haley Jane. She marries edge to sultriness, turning it into something part torch song, part R&B. Yet, that’s only one of this song’s charms. Wilson’s guitar brings edge to this emboldened march of instrumentation. He grinds out a fuzzy rock guitar that asserts itself heavily over a gentle patter of reggae groove. The trademark use of horns here comes across like tidal waves of sound mounting up higher in presence than the guitar yet somehow they all end up on equal footing.
An ROC take on “Soulshine” finds singers Jesse Wagner and his Aggrolites along with Kaylea Verville performing a choir work on the lyrics. Wilson presses out a spiritual lead guitar and keyboardist Tal Pearson lays out simmering soulful organ chords. Meanwhile, Riordan’s free as a butterfly sax phrase hovers in the balance and places another layer of soul on this hot gravy of an arrangement.
Close out track “Wake Up” goes out with a bang, not a whimper. Featuring Billy Kottage, this party vibing rocking, action packed piece carries a lot of moving parts, very assertive moving parts. Everyone is stomping through, wide, expansive lead guitar, fast boogieing horns, a bulbous groove and some aggressive vocalizing. Brief rests in the action, suddenly playing sweet mellow, notes cleverly gives the piece a seat of your pants anticipation.
Roots Of Creation have done it again. They’ve come up with a bunch of songs on this Dub Free Or Die album that show impressive musicianship while motivating ones feet onto the dance floor. This “dub album” furthers ROC plunge into dynamic music that continues to win over fans with each national tour.
