Freewheeling rock ‘n’ soul trio DeWolff‘s new studio album Muscle Shoals is out now via Mascot Records, and it’s aptly titled since it was recorded at the legendary FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, in Alabama, USA.
Following its release, the band has a new single out in the gentle and soulful ‘Let’s Stay Together’, that you can check out the video to here at RAMzine.
Its been described as one of the most personal songs Pablo van de Poel has ever written, and talking about it himself, he said. “It’s the breakup song on the record. That, fortunately, didn’t lead to a breakup. It’s one of the most direct emotional love songs I’ve ever written. In a long relationship you go through rough patches sometimes. I was going through one right around the time we were writing the album, so this one really is very autobiographical.”
Set to the backdrop of a vintage animation video, just before the album release, the band talked through the swirling soulful ‘Natural Woman’ that was their previous single.
“‘Natural Woman’ is another one of these songs that basically wrote itself: the big guitar riff, the verse and the chorus melodies came to us all at once, as if tapped from some kind of ancient rock ‘n roll well. The lyrics are about natural beauty, not having to hide or change to be accepted. There’s satisfaction in imperfection; the plastic dream was a lie.”
Available digitally, you can check out the video here at RAMzine. It followed previous single ‘In Love’, that itself has an accompanying video, one recorded at FAME studios.
Nestled on the banks of the Tennessee River, just South of Nashville and to the East of Memphis sits the town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the 1960s with the help of two recording studios, FAME and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, it became home to the soul of America.
FAME Studios saw the birth of Aretha Franklin as the Queen of Soul when she sat at the piano and laid down, ‘I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)’; There was also Arthur Conley, Wilson Pickett, and Etta James. A little more than two miles up the road is Muscle Shoals Sound Studios, that saw Cher, The Rolling Stones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Dylan all come through the doors and all the way up to The Black Keys when they recorded the Grammy-winning, Brothers, there in 2010.
When the opportunity for DeWolff to head to Muscle Shoals to record, they considered it a dream come true. “Even before we were into Southern Rock, as a kid, Luka got an album of southern soul, and most of it was recorded at FAME.” said singer/guitarist Pablo van de Poel of his brother. “Our introduction to soul didn’t start with James Brown; we started with Wilson Pickett.”
The album kicks off with the first single, ‘In Love’, a swirling funky soul ode to cheating. “It’s about if you’re with someone for a long time and you meet someone else, and they really turn your world upside down by challenging the promises you make to your partner when you have a long term relationship. There’re all these things that you want to do. There’s a line that goes ‘Tell me babe why can’t we meet, at the dark end of the street,’ which is a reference to Dark End of the Street, written by Muscle Shoals songwriter Dan Penn.”
In May 2024, they travelled to Muscle Shoals to record their 10th studio album between the two studios with Grammy award-winning producer Ben Tanner (Alabama Shakes). “You can really feel some kind of rock ‘n roll magic in the air there,” the guitarist added. “Right when we played our first notes there, I got goosebumps. This definitely was one of the best recording experiences we’ve ever had. Even the grand piano Leon Russell used was still there, just like the electric Wurlitzer piano that was used on ‘I Never Loved A Man’ by Aretha Franklin!”
The brooding lowdown soul-funk of ‘Out on the Town’ was inspired by the novel, The Man With The Golden Arm by Nelson Algren, recommended to van de Poel by The Black Crowes’ Chris Robinson. ‘Let’s Stay Together’ is” one of the most personal and direct emotional love songs” van de Poel is said to have ever written. ‘Ophelia’ sees them create their own Greek mythological story and ‘Snowbird’ is a gentle but epic 8-minute journey about a person fleeing from a cold place, such as a relationship.
Over the past 18 months, the enchanting psychedelic soul ‘n’ rollers have preached their electric gospel on a cruise, in a castle, sold out countless headline tours across Europe and transformed festival crowds into their own disciples. They’ve toured with The Black Crowes and have previously played shows with Blues Pills, Deep Purple, Toto, and count Seasick Steve as a fan.
Muscle Shoals, follows their previous #1 studio album Love Death & In Between(2023) and since then they have celebrated an Edison Award nomination (The Dutch Grammys), released Live & Outta Sight III, and also received the live music award, the Gouden Notekraker. In June 2023, they produced the world’s fastest Studio-to-store record – 2 hours, 59 minutes, and 38 seconds for ‘Rosita Rápida’, beating the record previously held by Jack White.
Formed in the Netherlands’ Deep South of Geleen as teenagers, Pablo van de Poel (guitar/vocals) and Luka van de Poel (drums/vocals), alongside Robin Piso (Hammond/Wurlitzer), have carved out a place for themselves as carefree adventurers; prolific in the studio and well-worn road-rovers. “It sounds like a fantasy story,” Pablo van de Poel reflecting ” 17 years ago, my mind would have never dared to go there to think of all the things we’ve done and places we’ve seen.”
DeWolff will tour the UK again in 2025, and tickets are available here. You can order Muscle Shoals here.
DeWOLFF April 2025 UK Headline Tour
12 April – Stereo, Glasgow
13 April – Deaf Institute, Manchester
15 April – Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
16 April – The Fleece, Bristol
17 April – O2 Academy, Oxford
18 April – Garage, London
