Sound Wheel

by Alison Mosshart

Overview

Though she's been known as the mighty vocalist of the Kills and the Dead Weather for years, Alison Mosshart has been a writer, painter, and photographer for nearly as long. She combined all of these disciplines -- as well as her lifelong love of cars -- in her 2019 book Car Ma, and with its audio companion Sound Wheel, she ventures into new territory: spoken word. Augmented by artful sonic textures, these stories, sketches, and poems play like listeners are on a road trip with Mosshart, hanging out in the passenger's seat as she takes them to tourist traps and parts unknown (there's even a memorial to roadkill). Her smoke-honed voice is just as magnetic when she's speaking as when she's singing, and as always, she knows how to turn a phrase; at one point, she describes a Prius as an "oversized Reebok." Sound Wheel's sound design is just as evocative, echoing Car Ma's collages of images and words with intriguing samples and sonic manipulation like the layered harmonies and processed vocals that seem to contain a lifetime's worth of secrets on "Louisiana" or the supernatural flair of "Demon Prince." While some tracks speed by so quickly that it's hard for listeners to get more than a blurry impression, when Mosshart slows down and lets them savor her imagery, Sound Wheel delivers something special. On "Animals" and "Sonic States," a glimpse of a cross-country trip with someone seeing the U.S. for the first time, she offers gritty realism that feels like excerpts from a memoir. Her deep and abiding passion for automobiles comes through on pieces as varied as "Last Pack of Holy Smokes," an amusing tale of Trump supporters with "insane cars" that suggests she wants to rescue them from their owners, and "Oh Black Shark," an ode to one special auto that just might be the most loving she's ever sounded on record. She plays with her delivery throughout the album, spanning the appealing frankness of "The Distance" and offering miniature performance art with "Let's Start a Band." She even lets a couple of songs sneak in, most notably the raw, prowling standout "Returning the Screw." A true counterpart to Car Ma, Sound Wheel is all the richer when coupled with the book's vision. On its own terms, it offers another intriguing side to Mosshart's persona. ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	08/07/2020
Label:	Third Man Records
UPC:	0813547028945
Rank:	104471

Tracks

1. Talk Talk Talk (Intro)
2. Windows Up
3. Pink Whip
4. Last Pack of Holy Smokes
5. Interlude/Psycho Hwy
6. Salt Lake City Drag
7. Interlude/In or Out
8. LA
9. Cables Galore
10. The Interlude/The Storm
11. The Distance
12. Oh Say Can You See (Interlude)
13. Sonic States of America
14. Blah Blah Blah (Interlude)
15. Miami
16. Admit It
17. Angelyne
18. Oh Black Shark
19. S Town
20. Interlude/Chevy Eyes Pepsi Jesus
21. Hold On
22. See Ya There (Interlude)
23. Louisiana
24. Around and Around and Around
25. Eliminator
26. Sexy Pontiac
27. Interlude/ Horrible Singing Voices
28. Let's Start a Band
29. Demon Prince
30. She's a Trip
31. Road Kill
32. Animals
33. Sunday Style
34. High Performance
35. In Between Jobs
36. Returning the Screw
37. High Horses
38. Summertime
39. Interlude/Real Real Real
40. Eastern Standards in the Wild West
41. The Electric Sads
42. Interlude/White Firebird
43. A Dime
44. Little Bottle
45. Mindfield
46. The Daughter of the American Used Car Dealer
47. Vroom Chicka Vroom

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Alison Mosshart   Primary Artist

Technical Credits

Alison Mosshart   Artwork,Composer,Engineer
William Skibbe   Mixing,Mastering