Dave Matthews Band
Away From The World

Dave Matthews Band - "Away from the world"

Over the last three years, the time span that separates us from the release of Dave Matthews Band's seventh and last album ("Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King", 2009), millions of fans of the American jam band have undoubtedly asked themselves: would a potential eighth work follow in the footsteps of Big Whiskey, an album profoundly different from its predecessors and for this reason not appreciated by many, or not, returning to the more intimate and poetic atmospheres of the superb first three albums of the band?

The release in the United States and subsequently in Europe (September 17) of the object of desire, "Away from the world", has provided an answer that will delight newcomers and leave a very slight (but overcome with a few listens) bitter taste for long-time fans: surely this album represents sonically the continuation of the path started in the mid-2000s, with eleven very different tracks yet all marked by the renewed (has it ever really disappeared, one wonders?) synergy between Dave Matthews and the guitar virtuoso Tim Reynolds, who apart from an unspecified number of live performances with the band had already played a leading role in the recording of Big Whiskey. Reynolds' guitar (often electric and multi-effected) is given great space and expressive freedom, which nevertheless condenses and hits with precise, targeted, perfect interventions, without ever reaching redundancy. Reynolds, exactly: certainly a living monument, but many among the early fans of the band from Charlottesville since the release of the last album denounced an excessive predominance of the electric guitar to the detriment of the interventions by Boyd Tynsley (violin) and Jeff Coffin (saxophonist for years with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, who joined DMB in 2008 replacing the late Leroi Moore).

In favor of "Away from the world", however, a spear must be broken, even two. The interventions of violin and saxophone (paired with the impressive Rashawn Ross on trumpet) are certainly more significant and valued compared to what was heard in 2009, and regarding Reynolds... well, if this album will be remembered in the future for a guitar riff, it will undoubtedly be the one of "Gaucho" (the first single released online) which, however, is clearly signed by an inspired Dave from the best years - on YouTube there are already countless tutorials to learn how to play that damn wonderful tune.

The second release, "Mercy", has thrilled fans around the world: a love ballad that could easily be a ghost track from one of the first three albums, universally considered the best played by DMB. In the instrumental bridge, the violin and electric guitar perfectly interlock their phrases, creating an atmosphere that feels like home. The long final instrumental, where a piano quietly steps in to provide a harmonic reminder for the sax and violin solos, is chilling.

A difficult track to analyze is "Drunken soldier": a long suite lasting almost ten minutes, featuring significant instrumental progressions - the introduction (the second, following a minute of bluegrass flashback) in Mexican style that fades into a beautiful classical violin phrase, here too accompanied by a guitar riff worthy of a conservatory handbook, is wonderful. The most trained ears cannot miss the deliberate double citation of Pink Floyd: the instrumental base of "Breathe" and the bass of "Great gig in the sky" accompany us to the end of the piece. A difficult, complex musical experiment, and ultimately excellently accomplished.

I would close this brief analysis of the album with another track that struck me: "If only". The orderly phrasing of the drums gives rhythm to a riff that wouldn't need it on its own, making up a piece that will likely become a milestone in future concerts - although compared to other past ballads of the group, this one sounds a bit pop. Such a fortunate destiny will probably not befall "The riff", in my opinion, a great unfinished piece of this album.

Wanting to give an overall evaluation of the album, it can be said that compared to Big Whiskey we are back on a planet with an atmosphere more compatible with the historic sound of the Dave Matthews Band. If this album had been released in 2009, bypassing Big Whiskey, the musical shock of Leroi Moore's premature departure would have been less profound. What has truly changed over the years in Matthews' writing is the general atmosphere of the compositions: do not expect to find in this album the tremendously dark atmospheres of "Warehouse" or the obsessive rhythms of "Two step", the impressionistic and ironic songwriting of "Seek up"; there is a general sense of peace, positivity, proactivity (see the lyrics of "Gaucho"). Having said that, "Away from the world" is undoubtedly a successful album: recommended. (4/5)