The Beautiful Funky Obsessions of Michael Rank, from Punk to Soul Man
lou flesh
Posted On November 9, 2018
Assessing the assiduous career of Michael Rank, one needs to be aware of the long, strange journey his career has taken, beginning in Snatches of Pink, a band that has been described as “the greatest North Carolina band of the late 80s and early 90s.”
Since Snatches of Pink was rocking the same stages as groups like Iggy Pop, The Cramps, and Soul Asylum, Rank then took a turn into the world of straight-up folk-rock, becoming a sort of American Billy Bragg, tapping into a Yankee beautiful loser energy for a few roots albums. That’s when writers really began to realize that Rank could write great songs, beyond stirring it up in clubs.
On this latest full-length I Fell in Love with You Tonight, Michael Rank has reunited with guitarist and production ace Brian Dennis of ’90s-contemporary DAG, whom he last recorded a phenomenal three album set with, which critics at magazines fought over to review. DAG was known for its right-on manic funk, and Dennis collaborates with Rank to create a new, sleeker version of this music, based in the R&B of Marvin Gaye, Jr.’s ‘Here, My Dear’ and Sly Stone’s ‘There’s A Riot Going On.’ You know, the kind of early-synthesizer dance-rock punk clubs would play on the nights when bands like Snatches of Pink weren’t tearing them up.
Rank was born in Manhattan and raised in a small New York town called Katonah, moving to Chapel Hill as a teenager. I Fell in Love with You Tonight is full of finger-popping, hip-swaying odes to the lovers’ R&B he grew up with on the radio as a kid, with a darker urban edge just left of the dial. You can tell this early passion is what ignited the creative music he made for such independent labels as Caroline Records and Mammoth Records.
It wouldn’t hurt to work backwards, listening to the delights of I Fell in Love with You Tonight, before going back to the multi-disc set of Another Love (2017). That maiden voyage into synth-soul will lead you to other treasures as well, but for right now I Fell in Love and its first single and video “This Love” is a perfect way to hook up with his healing music. Other highlights include the Roxy Music-reminiscent ‘‘Higher” and the club jams of “Hear That Sound.”
