The 4onthefloor | 'Spirit of Minneapolis' | New Music Review

Article Contributed by William Hungerford | Published on Thursday, April 4, 2013

After listening to the beginning of The 4onthefloor's new album, Spirit of Minneapolis, I had very mixed feelings. I put these feelings aside to listen to and write about this band on a non-biased opinion. I cannot find too much information about the bands’ musicians as much as I can about their concerts, tours and origins. The band members are; Gabriel Douglas, James Gould, Mark Larson and Chris Holm. This band hails from Minneapolis, Minnesota and has a versatile sound that can transcend regions and genres.This music has a swampy, backwoods sound that the guitar and bass dominate. There is a talented use of distortion and even touches of a 1970’s and 1980’s classic rock feel. I hear a musical influence of very eclectic mixtures; such as The Talking Heads, The Doors, The Beatles, The Jefferson Airplane, and even Pearl Jam. The vocals are deep and guttural and they take the show and out-range the other musicians. There are some points where the vocalist is overbearing and seems to try to hard. The first few tracks all sound similar and the vocalist does not demonstrate versatility and soul until about track four on. The vocal area is controlled by the styling of Gabriel Douglas and the mid to later album seems to be his most powerful explosion of talent.The drums are stomping and driving and progress the music forward. The drums can feel very repetitive, but capture the necessary mood for the other performers to follow. The bass is very well versed and incorporate several different styles including funk, jazz, soul, country, pop, rock, and more. The guitar tries to explore many different sounds, but the ones that capture the show are the country and folk styles. The major, musical feelings I seem to get from this band are country, soul, blues, southern rock, swamp music, and a gypsy/voodoo touch. I hear a large amount of Jim Morrison/ The Doors influence in the vocals, lyrics and musicianship. This band has talent when they demonstrate that they have soul. I would enjoy seeing a live show of this band, more than I have enjoyed listening to the new album. I can imagine that The 4onthefloor has a better stage presence and excitement than what their album has tried to capture. I hope to hear more from this band!