The departure of keyboardist Adam MacDougall from the ChrisRobinson Brotherhood several weeks prior to the release of the group’s newestalbum and supporting tour coincided with an adjacent announcement of cancelleddates and an uncertainty of the band’s future. It was a gloomy series of revelations from a quintet that seemed on anupswing, playing consistently strong shows and issuing albums- live or studio-with regularity. Servants of the Sun belies any of the gloom that may have been ontheir horizon, and MacDougall’s playing, specifically, is filled with optimismand energy. If this is indeed theBrotherhood’s swan song, it’s a musically cheery one.
Buoyant and bright, MacDougall’s opening keyboard flourishis the first sound of the lead track, “Some Earthly Delights,” with singer-songwriterRobinson equally animated and present. It’s roller-rink rock at its finest, evoking cut-off denim and beach-blondeperms as it unfurls. A back-to-backpairing of summer shake, with guitarist Neal Casal showing off tasteful slidework, comes next with “Let it Fall” and “Rare Birds,” before what has become afavored live staple for the band- the bouncing and shifting “Venus in Chrome.”
The middle portion leans into the Brotherhood’s familiar cosmicCalifornia country rock stylings. “StarsFell on California” allows for a swirling mid-section amongst Robinson’sfraying lament, while Casal dovetails a beautifully paced solo intoMacDougall’s complementing keys on the chugging lope of “Comin’ Round theMountain.” There are more hints ofBakersfield winking in “The Chauffer’s Daughter,” followed by the airy float of“Dice Game,” that stabilizes, then floats again, with a narrative that makesLos Angeles sound far more peaceful and inoculating as anything has in decades.
A short sonic collage on “Madder Rose Interlude” slides intothe album’s closer, fittingly, and in hindsight ironically, titled “A Smiling Epitaph”that weaves its foregoing remnants into a spellbinding ‘70s dreamland. Maybe the Brotherhood will endure in someother form or fashion, but if not, this final cut is a perfect legacy. The ‘70s dreamland of cosmic Californiacountry and Southern sway that belonged to these particular five now belongs tothe annals and to a setting sun.
