New York, NY: On their third full-length record, Midnight Soul Serenade, American rock’n’roll revolutionaries Heavy Trash (Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray) continue their journey, delivering a stunning portrait of love and devotion gone good, gone wrong, and just gone, gone, gone.
Recorded at NY HED Studios in the Lower East Side and Toe Rag in London, Mssrs. Spencer and Verta-Ray are joined by an all-star team featuring New York roots-rock champion Simon Chardiet (Simon & the Bar Sinisters, James Chance, Joey Miserable & the Worms, Bo Diddley) on double bass, Sam Baker (Lambchop) on drums, and numerous guests, including Danish rockers PowerSolo, piano ace Mickey Finn (who has also held down that job for Motown legends The Miracles and Barrett Strong), Daniel Collas (The Phenomenal Handclap Band) on organ, and Tennessee sweethearts Those Darlins. Additional mixing was done with Scott Harding (New Kingdom) and Alap Momin (Dalek).
From the brooding promise of “Good Man” to the subtle brutality of “(You’ve Got to Be) Gentle,” the outer-space terror of “Isolation,” and the lysergic balladry of “That’s What Your Love Gets,” this is the sound of two men, souls stripped bare, transmogrified.
Midnight Soul Serenade is a slightly darker, barrel-fermented, and brilliantly matured dose of Heavy Trash. On every track Verta-Ray’s guitars pulsate, ooze, and percolate, while Spencer croons and twangs, shakes and shudders, with raw power and passion. There are more switch-blade riffs, crazy rhythms, sexual tension, and mind-blowing moments of palpable release on this record than ever before.
Heavy Trash are risk takers, rockabilly daredevils flirting with fate. As with all Heavy Trash productions, Midnight Soul Serenade embraces both the future and the past. Backed by their troupe of veteran tricksters, road dogs, blues wizards, punks, and evil geniuses, they have created a new kind of groove, a soundtrack suitable for haunted bordellos and hedonistic ho-downs. There are surprises around every corner — sounds no one else would even dare to create.
Is this the world of two men keeping their psychosis at bay, or have they found true peace of mind and discovered the meaning of love? The answer lies within. Welcome to the Midnight Soul Serenade.
