Album Review: Benjamin Booker - Benjamin Booker

This is a total blast of urgent rock’n’roll energy. On these scuzzy lo-fi recordings, Booker sounds like an old-fashioned blues artist coming to terms with indie rock and old-school Detroit punk. Tunes like the raucous Violent Shiver and Wicked Waters barrel at us with a ton of infectious energy in a way that makes you want to twist and shout the night away. Booker’s whiskey-soaked voice has a nasty rasp in rougher moments but drips with emotion when he slips into the tenderest country-soul imaginable. Loud, abrasive and deeply soulful – this is one exciting debut.