Last month, Detroit rock supergroup The Raconteurs released their highly anticipated debut album, Broken Boy Soldiers, to widespread public acclaim and a critical response that ranged from middling to ecstatic - including a decidedly middling review from our own Megan Giddings. But for those of us in the know, the idea of a Motor City answer to Blind Faith was never quite as enticing as the hysterical reports from NME had made the Raconteurs' gestation period sound. That's because we'd already heard the best supergroup in Detroit... and we knew that Jack White had nothing to do with it.
From their absurd blacklight sci-fi album art to their acronymous band name (ELP, anyone?), (John) Szymanski, (Dave) Shettler and (Keith) Morris are a supergroup thoroughly conscious of their status as such. Everything about this self-titled debut is bigger and more exaggerated than the sum of SSM's parts, right down to epic nine-minute closing jam "The Seer."
But what keeps this power trio from descending into bloated self-parody is the ability of each member to take the modi operandi of their more well-established "day jobs," and coax them into exciting new directions. Sure, the Farfisa-driven Nuggets raunch of Szymanski's Hentchmen is all over tracks like "Exit Strategy," "Ain't Love," and "Candy Loving"; but hotwired to Cyril Lords frontman Morris' heavy guitar licks and some double-team percussion courtesy of ex-Sights drummer Shettler and the band's secret weapon, a vintage drum machine, it's a whole new beast - one which threatens to breathe some much-needed new life into that rickety bandwagon we call "Detroit garage."
Ah yes, the old kiss-of-death "garage rock" rears its ugly head. But it's all but impossible to discuss SSM, who share both crucial members and crucial sounds with the faltering phenomenon, without at least a passing reference. Fact is, a more cynical listener might call this album little more than a bunch of dolled-up Hentchmen songs; standout track "Put Me In" even recalls an unholy blend of those two maligned early-Noughties genres, garage rock and electroclash!
It would be foolish, however, to belabor such a shallow point when a rock'n'roll album as red-hot as this one stands before us. Who gives a shit what decade Szymanski's keyboards are from, or whether or not Morris is playing an Airline? This album is living proof that Detroit rock'n'roll will continue to be some of the most vital around, whether there's a "scene" to back it up or not.
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