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SOFT DANGEROUS SHORES
MESSENGER
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Cut in Dresden, where Whitley’s been hanging when he’s not touring, this disc does get a post-apocalyptic sound from his ghostly voice, his murmured stream-of-consciousness lyrics, and his taste for loops and programming blended with the tumbling momentum of his guitar. There’s also producer Malcolm Burn’s expansive textural approach: Burn produced Whitley’s 1991 debut, Living with the Law, and their instincts are still twined. The layers of percussion and sampled hum compound the power of Whitley’s visceral takes on love and death; they also give the bass/drums/guitar trio more density. The effect is transfixing and hallucinogenic — like Skip James jamming with Brian Eno. On the perverse road poem "Last Million Miles," the sonic treatment does swallow Whitley’s voice (his most affecting instrument), but that’s a quibble. Like Whitley’s past half-dozen albums, this one’s a script of frayed nerves and jagged emotions that plays out like a raw, opium-fueled dream.
