Mofro - Lochloosa

by Andrew Carver

published: 16 / 8 / 2004

Label: Glitterhouse Records
Format: CD

Environmentally-friendly swampy soul-funk on second album from Florida duo, Mofro, which is "sure to be in the year end Top 10 of anyone who loves soul, funk, R&B or blues"

Review

Mofro’s debut, 'Blackwater', is sensational. Their sophomore album is even better. At heart, Mofro is two Southerners, J.J Grey and Daryl Hance, who live on the edge of the big Florida swamps (well, Jacksonville ... but for musical purposes, we'll say they live on the edge of the swamp). Grey is the singer, songwriter, and occasional guitar picker; Hance is the guitarist - plays a lot of slide – and they have a handful of friends helping out on bass, drums, electric piano and organ. The music they make is swampy soul-funk – and it’s the best darn swampy soul-funk around. First thing you notice is Grey’s songwriting; like all the best it’s rooted deep in the place he’s from – a place to be homesick for (in the title track and on 'The Long Way Home'), where he can call himself a 'Dirtfloorcracker' with pride, and which is also to be feared ('Six Ways from Sunday' ) and also feared for. The devastation of the environment was a prominent theme on their equally fine first album, and so it is again in 'Fireflies' (“I hear they ain’t never comin’ back…”). The music itself has thick, acoustic and slide guitar reaching back to the primordial folk blues, and is sweet with the groove of harmonica, deep rumbling bass and the thick sauce of organ. Hance is already getting a reputation among other guitar players for the extraordinary restraint and taste of his playing – few say so much with so little. A crop of bands proud to parade their roots in the U.S. South has emerged to grab the music-buying public’s attention. My Morning Jacket and Drive By Truckers are two of the most prominent . Mofro is their equal, and that’s high praise. Sure to be in the year end Top 10 of anyone who loves soul, funk, R&B or blues.

Track Listing:-

1 Y'All Ready
2 That Boy
3 Lochloosa
4 Dirtfloorcracker
5 Fireflies
6 Ten Thousand Islands
7 Six Ways From Sunday
8 The Wrong Side
9 Everybody's
10 Gal Youngin
11 How Junior Got His Head Put Out
12 The Long Way Home
13 Pray For Rain