Album Review: White Denim - 12

White Denim

12

*** out of *****

Back in 2015 White Denim front man James Petralli stepped out from the bands frantic kaleidoscope of sounds and styles to put out and album under the pseudonym Bop English titled Constant Bop. 

It was Rock the Body Electric's favorite record of the year and was included in our favorite of the decade. 

That solo release came to mind when listening to the newest album from Petralli, 12. After years of shifting landscapes, physical moving, re-releasing albums and lineup changes, White Denim is his solo project now (with various input from others) and that less frantic style is starting to shine again. 

Petralli shifted his life to L.A. during the pandemic and has been working on these songs since, dealing with the passing of relatives, homeschooling kids, and living through these insane years in general all the while. That chaos seeps into the music, sometimes lyrically directly, as the multiple sonics swirl, support each other and clash at times. 

The record opens strongly though with a meditation on life and death with "Light On" confronting mortality around skittering electro beats. "Ecolining" plays to White Denim's more frantic past while "Flash Bare Ass" seems to move into straight ahead folk rock land, but can't help but go overboard with overloaded background sounds. That hesitation to play it straight keeps Petralli interesting but can also twist songs for the simple reason to be different for difference sake. 

The rest of 12 finds Petralli splitting his time between grooving electro R&B inspired tracks and modern pop rock. On the R&B side of things "Look Good" is the best of the bunch with gorgeous vocals from Taméca Jones that push the track over the top while "Second Dimension" plays like a Jamiroquai cut with an electro groove and "I Still Exist" ups the flutes and strings with mix results. 

Petralli also goes a more pop rock line with a trio of tunes, "Swinging Door" with deep bass and cycling beats, and artsy spoken word, the tense "We Can Move Along" whose late sax solo feels tack on and not flushed out and "Hand Out Giving" that seems direct but as always gets layers of squiggles and synths to artsy up the effort. 

One of the pluses is that Petralli keeps all of the efforts shorts, so even when he overloads the instrumentation and singing, things move towards the following song pretty quickly. "Your Future As You Go" is one example of a time when scaling back would benefit the tune as the layers of flutes, vocals, synths, banjo's and who knows what else can overwhelm with about five different solos coming into wrap up. 

Overall, things are shifting positively for White Denim and Petralli as 12 finds him moving into new realms, while not losing touch with past successes. Who knows what is next for the artist, but 12 is a engaging ride throughout. 

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