"Guku," with its fingerpicked electric Weissenborn, re-introduces something familiar and more traditionally Rudd in the song structure - with great brush work by Tolley.
Reggae makes its entrance on "Secrets," but for all its space, the heavy guitar cuts in and out almost dubwise. The title track, with its snarling slide, uses textured feedback and effects pedals to introduce Rudd's vocals, which offer an emotionally honest personal reflection. Since it's an instrumental, it will make an unsuspecting fan do a double take and check the label. The former, with its single opening note of controlled feedback, almost sounds like Jimi Hendrix's intro to "Foxey Lady," giving way to a swirling bluesy wail accompanied by droning didgeridoos and Tolley's monstrous tom-toms. The opening two cuts, the long droning "Black Water" and the title track it seamlessly morphs into, are marvelous examples of the new kind of restless expression Rudd employs here. The Weissenborn lends itself to amplification beautifully, offering long distorted and sustained tones that transcend mere "rock." His songwriting is more expansive he relies on the blues a bit more, though reggae and Aussie folk styles are everywhere. His didgeridoos are still present (known here by their aboriginal term, yirdaki), as well as the drums of Dave Tolley, and sometimes a small chorus of backing vocalists. He still plays Weissenborn guitars, though they're amplified, as is a six-string resonator. That said, it's hardly a sellout in fact, given how comfortably he inhabits this terrain, this may be the record Rudd has desired to make for a long time.
#XAVIER RUDD 2008 FULL#
First off, it's an electric record, full of barely contained squalling guitars, percussion, and a more textural approach to recording. Dark Shades of Blue is special, and unique to Rudd's catalog. He played a self-composed amalgam of Aussie folk, blues, and reggae, and, as on his last two recordings on Anti, his themes evolved from being introspective personal observations to decidedly non-pedantic reflections on the global environmental crisis, racism, personal responsibility, and the benefits of community. Traveling the world with his multitude of instruments (including three different didgeridoos, bass, banjo, stompbox, percussion instruments, and an assortment of Weissenborn guitars), Rudd was a one-man band who happened to be a rather gifted surfer and a fine songwriter. By 2008, Australian singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Xavier Rudd established himself as a world-touring itinerant musician who broke most of the rules of the music biz and got away with it.
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