Eddie 9V Shows He’s a Soulman on Capricorn

“We’re tracking in history right now, y’all,” Eddie 9V says at the end of “Yella Aligator,” the swamp-funk second single from his latest album. While he’s overstating the case a bit, he’s not wrong. The Atlanta-born singer, songwriter and guitarist was set up at the venerable Capricorn Studios in Macon, Ga., where the Allman Brothers Band and Percy Sledge had once recorded. Also, Eddie 9V (real name: Brooks Mason Lane) is working in a vintage-style soul vein on most of the 11 songs on his third LP.

It’s a shift from the sound of his previous albums, where he dug into old-school electric blues that evoked the crackling, fuzzed-over guitar sound of Elmore James and Freddie King cuts from the ’50s. On Capricorn, Eddie 9V is showing off his soulman bona fides with locked-in rhythms, flashy horns and a healthy measure of whirling Hammond organ and electric piano. That’s not to say he’s forsaken the guitar: there are riffs a-plenty here, the kind that grab hold and pull you under. He even reverts back to the blues on the jumped-up 12-bar number “Down Along the Cove,” where he sprays slide guitar licks around like he’s shaking hot sauce onto gumbo.

Most often, though, Eddie 9V (Mr. 9V?) is interested in riding deep grooves on Capricorn. “Bout to Make Me Leave Home” is all about the bassline, a funky, loping foundation topped with bursts of brass and electric piano vamps. Guitar takes the lead with a punchy riff that sets up hip-twitching bass and a cascade of horns on “How Long,” one of those joyful laments unique to soul music as Eddie 9V sings in his viscous drawl about roaming and rambling in perpetual search of peace of mind. He never says whether he finds what he’s looking for, but the fiery guitar solo he drops at the end of the song suggests that the journey matters more than the destination.