Greyhounds - Accumulator (2014)

A retro garage R&B duo out of Austin, Texas, the Greyhounds, comprised of guitarist, singer, and songwriter Andrew Trube and singer, songwriter, and keyboardist Anthony Farrell, have been together in one form or another for some 15 years, and while they've released a couple of prior albums (the most recent being Liberty from 2004), this set is the duo's first on an established label, Ardent Music (a reconfigured and reborn Ardent Records), and for all practical purposes, it feels like a fresh start for all involved, the first release of a three-album deal. Calling the Greyhounds' "Hall & Oates meets ZZ Top" sound retro might not be quite fair, since Trube and Farrell, although they feature a kind of throwback funk-soul sound, add an edgy contemporary glaze to it, making tracks like the opener here, "What's on Your Mind," moody, powerful, and slow-burning. The duo's two voices are fairly opposite, with Trube's gliding high, thin, and lonely while Farrell's is more of a husky growl, but they fit together well, and given that this is a prolific songwriting team (they've penned songs for Derek Trucks, Susan Tedeschi, and others), it's obvious why Ardent gave them a three-album deal. This is a raw-sounding and yet controlled set, with several striking tracks, including first single "What's on Your Mind," the stomping "Soul Navigator," the edgy "Yours to Steal," the haunting and eerie "Lone Rider," and "You're Gone," which sounds a bit like Gregg Allman sitting in with a sharply rehearsed garage band. Truthfully, it isn't quite Hall & Oates, and it isn't quite ZZ Top either, but rather a synthesis of two different ways of making people head for the dancefloor, which, in the end, is what this interesting duo is famous for in their live shows.