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![[Off The Record]](/images/boston/music/offtherecord_header.gif){kind=small}
 His Name Is Alive SOMEDAY MY BLUES WILL COVER THE EARTH (BEGGARS BANQUET)
With his latest incarnation of His Name Is Alive, suburban-Detroit-based indie auteur Warren Defever has taken yet another genre detour, this time with the help of a new vocal muse. Defever got his start, on 1990’s Livonia, offering an American answer to 4AD’s goth-tinged atmospheres and textured moodiness before putting his guitar up front in the mix on ’93’s Mouth by Mouth and the Brian Wilson homage Stars on E.S.P. But here he tries his hand at bluesy, soulful R&B arrangements adorned with the alluringly intimate vocals of Lovetta Pippen. The pace is slow and patient, as he zeroes in on smoldering grooves. Understated electronic beats (think Massive Attack, or even Sade) underscore the intense and organic richness of Pippen’s vocals. In typical HNIA style, the playful funk of " Our Last Affair " belies its contemplative lyrics: " If you had a year to live, do you know who you’d like to spend it with?/Would you like to be alone? " And the sullen beauty of " Write My Name in the Groove " is buoyed by a smooth, sensual instrumental jam. Chalk up another classic pop conquest for the mercurial Defever.
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