St. Paul ’s Down Lo combines elements of jazz, funk, blues, reggae and country into a mix most sandal-clad, earth-worshipping music fans should find irresistibly tantalizing. The album’s opener, “Take Care,” is fairly representative of the bulk of the CD. The music is standard, laid-back white boy raga funk tied to a pleasant organ groove. The song takes an abrupt turn midway through, picking up tempo and segueing into space jazz reminiscent of Casino Royale. This track is followed by “Bluegrass in E,” which, despite its title, sounds nothing like bluegrass, but more like Sublime by way of Nashville . The rest of the album continues in a similar vein, with a handful of instrumental tracks sprinkled throughout, giving the band members a chance to show off their considerable musical prowess.
When it comes to bands such as Down Lo, lyrical content often comes second to building a strong groove an audience can dance to and “Lead My Way” is no exception. Most of the themes are standard boilerplate fare about finding love, losing love and the hardships of touring. Singer/guitarist Mark Grundhoefer has a smooth voice that, at time, recalls G. Love, Bradley Nowell of Sublime and numerous other Caucasian purveyors of cultural-musical appropriation. His guitar work is quite impressive, as are the musical talents of Down Lo’s three other members and “Lead My Way” gives them all ample opportunity to impress the listener. With this much talent and the ability to lay down an easy groove, Down Lo may very well be the heir apparent to the local jam-band throne currently occupied by the Big Wu.
