Dexter Romweber – Blues That Defy My Soul

There’s nothing on the third solo album from the erstwhile Flat Duo Jets main man that couldn’t, in theory, have been snatched from a vintage FDJ recording — which is not a complaint, by the way. (All time classic: the Jets’ 1992 album Go Go Harlem Baby, produced by Jim Dickinson.) But then, Dexter Romweber has never been about documenting the era he’s in; he avoided, for example, going through a ’90s “alternative” phase, although his 1998 album for Outpost, the Scott Litt-produced Lucky Eye, did leaven the retro-rock with strings and keyboards.

Instead, Romweber seems more concerned with the bygone era(s) in his mind. So on Blues That Defy My Soul, we get go-cat-go rockabilly (“Rockin’ Dead Man”, featuring some appropriately yakety sax); ’50s pop balladry (“I’ve Lost My Heart To You”, penned by Charlie Rich but with Dex taking one of his patented Elvis turns at the mike); elegant, blue-eyed R&B with a noirish twist (the title track); and of course wild-ass instrumentals (the surfing-in-the-Sahara “Nephretite”; the frenetic distorto-rave-up “Nabonga”).

There are duo and trio (with drummer Sam Laresh and bassist Andrew Maltbie) as well as solo performances here. Major credit is due to reverb-friendly producer Rick Miller (Southern Culture On The Skids) for consistently nailing a crisp, room-filling sound that remains true to the guitarist’s modern primitivist muse. Indeed, as a distillation of pretty much everything Romweber has committed to tape in the past, Blues That Defy My Soul could almost be subtitled, “Dex’s Greatest Unreleased Hits”.