We review ‘Soft Control’, the tenth album by The Afghan Whigs

The tenth study work of The Afghan Whigs It comes after a particularly fertile period, with the group moving forward without the need to reinvent itself or betray a personality that continues to be unmistakable. Since his return in 2014, The Afghan Whigs They have recovered an inspiration that has always seemed intact, and this new album confirms that that rebirth was not a mirage. Greg Dulli explained to this same magazine that he composed more than twenty songs before selecting the final ten. The result has a remarkable cohesion, although, as usual, it never started from a preconceived concept. The compositions found their place until forming a portrait of who their author is today.

That makes “Soft Control” in one of the most personal albums of a career already marked by emotional exposure. Dulli has always written from vulnerability, but now she does so from a different perspective. With a serenity unknown in the years of “Gentlemen” (93) or “Black Love” (96), without this implying losing intensity. An aspect, without a doubt, that is also granted by seniority.

Musically, The Afghan Whigs They keep intact that mix of rock, soul, R&B and cinematic textures that have become a trademark of the house. The guitars retain their punch, the keyboards surround each song with almost nocturnal atmospheres and the production knows when to contain the tension and when to let it explode. “House Of I” recovers the most electric pulse of the group, while “My Lover” He plays with an almost classical elegance, relying on sinuous melodies and vocal phrasing that refers to the best Dulli. One of the great moments of the album comes with “The Deepest Part Of The Darkest Shadow”a slow-building song that finds the perfect balance between melancholy and epic. More surprising, without a doubt, “Mariah Luster.” Here things transform into unusual rhythms in the band’s universe that, however, sound perfectly appropriate to us. In the final stretch, “A Simulation” works as a closing that is as introspective as it is expansive, although the emotional heart of the album may be in the already released live “Duvateen”, in which memory, the passage of time and the awareness of mortality are intertwined without ever falling into sentimentality.

“Soft Control” It does not intend to recover the past or compete with the classics in its catalogue, probably unattainable and also meaningless at this point in the film. His ambition is different. Speak honestly about the present from accumulated experience. And that, in a band with forty years of history, ends up being much more valuable than any attempt to repeat youth.