The Revivalists - "Pour It Out Into The Night"

Jazz-infused Americana with a positive post-Covid outlook

Frankly, I’m very upset that I’m only just now discovering this NOLA-based 8-piece Roots Rock group. It’s raw, honest Americana with sax, steel guitar, and occasionally a trumpet. And, as any band from New Orleans ought to, their music is vibrant, colorful, and lively. It’s a party, even when it’s mournful.

Okay, maybe that’s a slight exaggeration. Still.

The album’s central motifs are very much in the vein of Carpe Diem, “hey, we’re still here!”, and this is cemented early, with the energetic opening tracks “Kid” and “Don’t Look Back”. And it’s reinforced in every track on the album in some way. The sorrowful, downtempo “Alive”, for example, ends with the lines:

“Take all that you have learned
All the time we’ve burned
And turn it into something
Before it’s too late”

The album is focused, thematically, on positivity and, when positivity isn’t an option, on moving forward. It’s a post-Covid celebration of everything we still have; there are many and varied acknowledgements of the problems that persist and the losses we’ve endured. But all we can do is continue, and the album sets the tone for that perfectly. I would be remiss not to mention the title track here - the album closer, “Pour It Out Into the Night”, is an acoustic, melancholic tribute and sign-off, leaving the listener with the lines:

“Every mornin’ I wake to the sweetness of your sound
Every mornin’ I wake to the sirens ringin’ out
Oh, it’s a crazy, mixed-up, wild world
But every mornin’ I wait, my little baby girl
And it’s a sweet, sweet lie (x4)”

The album briefly delves into Southern Gothic territory on “Down in the Dirt” and “The Long Con”. The latter is also very pointed political commentary. Qualifying for Southern Gothic, by definition, means that these two tracks are the least cohesive tracks with the album’s motifs, but they actually pull it off through calls to action, which is clever and impressive.

There’s not a bad track on the album. There’s not even really a ‘meh’ track here. This one’s solid, and I highly recommend this one.

Rating: Blue