Album Review: The Arcs, Electrophonic Chronic

Take Dan Auerbach, one half of Detroit blues-rock powerhouse The Black Keys; add Leon Michels, the bandleader of eclectic soul project El Michels Affair, and some-time member of Wu-Tang Clan; and add Nick Movshon, a Mark Ronson and Daptone Records session musician, and side player with Charles Bradley.

For good measure, rope in Homer Steinweiss, the founder and drummer of Lee Fields & The Expressions; and finally add the late, great Richard Swift, he of recording studio National Freedom and The Shins. Voila. you create The Arcs, a rarity among supergroups – one that really is the sum of its parts, à la the Traveling Wilburys.

All five members were pals who hung out, listening to old soul, garage, Jamaican records and Joe Meek stuff. The neo-psychedelic soul-rock odyssey Electrophonic Chronic was put together at the same time as the group’s debut record Yours Dreamily, a period in which they laid down over a hundred tracks in studios across New York, Nashville and Oregon.
Since Swift’s untimely passing in 2018, the tracks have been kept on ice. Finally seeing the light of day, they are a brilliant blend of soul, blues, funk and hip-hop.

‘A Man Will Do Wrong’, a gender swapped cover of Helene Smith’s soul classic ‘A Woman Will Do Wrong’, is fantastically updated. ‘Heaven Is A Place’, meanwhile, is a wonderful psychedelic eulogy to Swift. Elsewhere, the Memphis soul of ‘River’, the Nelson Riddle orchestral swell of ‘Califone Interlude’, and the Motown sound of The Supremes on ‘Sunshine’ are all superbly delivered.

Terrific stuff.

Listen: ‘Heaven Is A Place’
Score: 8/10

Out now via Easy Eye Sound.

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