Annie & the Caldwells’ Can’t Lose My (Soul) emerges victorious—in opposition to all odds—from the dense overgrowth of historical past’s enigmatic wilderness. Our journey begins within the early Seventies, when gospel’s DNA, which had already formed funk and R&B, cross-pollinated again, inspiring a brand new era of gospel singers to embrace the identical unapologetic, dance-worthy grooves that fueled the Staples Singers—whose gospel-funk hybrid may make you shut up, get down, and possibly even get somewhat spiritually minded.
Among the many Staples’s disciples was a teenage group of siblings from Aberdeen, Mississippi, who known as themselves the Staples Jr. Singers. Made up of Annie, A.R.C., and Edward Brown, they constructed a repute for summoning fiery devotion and an simple groove.
They recorded only one album, When Do We Get Paid, promoting it individually after exhibits and typically from their entrance porch. The many years handed, however the Staples Jr. Singers by no means stopped singing. As soon as she married, Annie Brown grew to become Annie Brown Caldwell, finally forming Annie & the Caldwells together with her husband, their youngsters, and their goddaughter. Over many years of weekend performances in and round their hometown of West Level, Mississippi, they cultivated an electrifying reside presence.
Every thing modified when Greg Belson, a DJ with a particular curiosity in amassing and compiling uncommon gospel, soul, funk, and disco, resurrected a kind of long-ago recorded Staples Singers Jr. tracks for Luaka Bop’s 2019 compilation, The Time for Peace Is Now: Gospel Music About Us. Quickly after, the label reissued your complete When Do We Get Paid.
This will get us into the guts of the triumphant current, the place Annie & the Caldwells’ Luaka Bop debut, Can’t Lose My (Soul), distills this winding historical past into six potent tracks. It blends gospel fervor with deep grooves and showcases it with solely the lightest contact of manufacturing, permitting their sound’s massive, righteous beast to take middle stage.
The opener, “Fallacious”, bursts with exuberance. Jazzy guitar spasms in time with a assured, punchy bass thump to set the stage for the true star of the present: powerhouse vocals shifting effortlessly from a delicate caress to a weighty, managed increase—a raspy confession about infidelity that swells with a sort of groovy repentance.
“Fallacious” will get our blood pumping and spirits prepped for the next title monitor. “Can’t Lose My Soul” is a slinky, introspective ten-minute odyssey of devotion. Introspection then results in the ecstatic celebration with the buoyant, red-blooded funk of “I Made It”, upping the tempo just a few notches whereas the bass holds issues down with a weighty, satisfying bounce and launch.
By the point we attain the nearer, “Expensive Lord”, the synergy is simple. The bass slinks and sways, the guitar shimmers, and the rhythm part retains all the pieces simmering beneath a boil. These hard-hitting vocals by no means lose vigor, typically buckling in opposition to the seams of the recording—exhibiting off a physicality that can not be faked.
Can’t Lose My (Soul) was years within the making, however that prolonged timeline does nothing to decrease its energy. If something, it simply proves Annie & the Caldwells can create an unrepentantly soul-stirring sound able to transcending time, place, and—once in a while—even essentially the most unshakable atheism.
