His Name Is Alive Issue #27

Detrola (Silver Mountain)

By Kim Newman
Published: March 1st, 2006 | 12:00am

Warren Defever, under the moniker His Name Is Alive, has spent more than 15 years honing a sound that manages to be both placid and full of turmoil. He’s also a skilled multi-tasker — or perhaps some strange savant — who composes, produces, and often performs every instrument himself. And no matter what genre he might explore — gospel, R&B, pop, even classic rock — it is an electrifying musical mélange that in every instance is unmistakably His Name Is Alive.

His latest release, Detrola, features the same stirring and lovely atmospherics for which he is known. Stellar production work and graceful compositions are highlighted by shimmering vocals, whether it’s the warm timbre of Lovetta Pippen or the softer, more delicate soprano of his new singer, Andrea.

True, Detrola might be a bit louder than past outings thanks to the thunderous distorted audience applause that ends “Introduction” and the 18-second sojourn into the shoegazing wall of guitar for “You and Me,” a track that serves as a startling introduction to the whimsical pop in “Get Your Curse.” But, overall, the album shows that you should never muck with success.

Detrola’s mixture of dream pop, blues, and funky electro beats verges on the self-referential as the melody of album-closer “Send My Face” is reminiscent of the Stars on ESP ballad “The World is Not My Home.” “Your Bones” is a return to the acoustic and bare atmosphere from Defever’s early Livonia days. Is he running out of ideas or just expanding them? Considering the genius, it must be the latter.