Dixie Witch - Smoke & Mirrors
- Released: 2006
- Label: Small Stone Recordings
- Rating:
Everyone who is a music fan has a favorite band or artist. It could come from any genre of music and from any year, from any country and any gender…but what makes a band one’s favorite? Is it the way they play? Is it they way they look? What makes a band enter my repertoire is the association of their music with a certain event or emotion in my life. If a band can write a tune that causes me to stop what I’m doing and reflect on my surroundings and my life, that is more meaningful and more massive than any number of years of success and any number of platinum albums any other band can put out. In January of 2005 I had been listening to Dixie Witch’s last effort, One Bird, Two Stones for about a year. I’d always dug it and thought it was a great album, but what really sealed the deal for that band and that album and tied it into my life was listening to it as I drove from Phoenix back to my home in Louisiana. I was heading down the interstate approaching El Paso and came over a hill looking down on the city in the distance, with nothing but blue sky in front of me, as “On My Way” started to play on the CD player. It just clicked right then. I felt like the band wrote that song for that exact moment in my life. I just felt so fucking free. I can’t aptly describe just how much that one song changed the whole scope of things for me. One and a half years later (and three years after the release of that album) comes Smoke & Mirrors, which I had high hopes for and which has exceeded the hopes I’ve had for it.
Smoke & Mirrors is a heavy helping of southern rock with a side of stoner and a glass of doom. While their last effort leaned heavily towards the slower side, this album starts out with a few in-your-face rock and roll tracks. As the album progresses, the band slows it down progressively until finally arriving at “Last Call”, which is a ten minute journey to another planet. Some songs were just meant to be listened to on headphones and that is definitely one of them. You will seriously forget where you are as you drift along, riding on every drumbeat and hanging onto every guitar solo.
If you’ve never heard Dixie Witch, you’ve really been shortchanging yourself. These guys are all amazing musicians and present a cohesiveness that you’ll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere. I must comment additionally on the musicianship of Trinidad Leal, who is just a monster on the skins while belting out some of the best southern vocals this side of Mr. Van Zant himself. His voice just fits the music and his lyrics create the atmosphere. You can’t help but sing along with each and every word he throws at you. Dixie Witch aren’t just a band and Smoke & Mirrors isn’t just an album…the whole thing is an experience.
As far as how this album compares to their last one…well, of course I love this album. Until that moment comes though – like the one I had on the interstate – it’ll never be the same. Until then, I’ll just keep the disc spinning and rocking out, until somewhere down the road a smile will come across my face and I’ll know that the band just resolidified my position as a fan for life. That, my friends, is something you cannot sell or buy.
Farlus | 06/30/2006