After four years of touring, New Orleans rockers The Revivalists are back with their third studio album, Men Amongst Mountains. “This one feels different,” says drummer Andrew Campanelli. From sing-along tracks like “Keep Going” to the edgier “All in the Family” and R&B-inspired “Need You,” the band presents a diverse yet consistently soul-infused rock and roll album with an underlying sentiment of hope and peaceful transition.

“We exist to play” says Campanelli. Influenced by everything from the Allman brothers, to 90’s hip hop, to NOLA funk staples like Galactic, the 7-piece New Orleans-based band is their own animal. “We really didn’t set out to be any kind of genre. We are seven people that write from seven different series of background and influences, some common and some not— someone in the band will write a song and it’ll sound nothing like anything we had written before, but if it’s a good song, we’ll play it”.

L4LM Exclusive: The Revivalists ‘Move On’ In Soulful New Video

“Keep Going” is certainly one of those tracks. The catchy, opening song sets a precedent for the rest of the album, as well as the band’s future as a whole. It’s honest, comforting, and hopeful. “I’ve been fake, I’ve been free, I’ve been you I’ve been me, but I will stand up tall for what I believe” lead singer David Shaw sings. They admitted it took a great deal of debate before deciding that this should be the opening track. “It’s easy to get bogged down in the minutia in making an album when every detail seems important,” says Campanelli. Finally they came to their senses and someone said, “What are we even talking about, let’s keep going!”

 

One standout song on the album is “All in the Family,” an edgy, dirty, rock-gogo track guaranteed to get your head banging. The guitar line gives it a hardcore rock and roll feel in the beginning, before percussionist Mike Dillon comes in on timbales and congas, taking the song to a whole new territory. “Are you happy with the plans you’re making, are you satisfied with who you are?” Shaw asks us. By the time it’s over you don’t even remember where you are anymore, perhaps some sort of heavy metal rave in the jungle. 

L4LM Presents The Revivalists’ Album Release Party

They take it down a notch for the smooth R&B track, “Need You.” The bluesy guitar strums backed by a tight hip-hop beat brings you to an entirely different element, giving you some head space from the heavier, more upbeat tracks like “All In the Family” and “Stand Up.”  Shaw’s soulful vocals and Michael Girardot’s brief, yet emotional trumpet solo make you want to close your eyes and take it all in. 

The second to last track, “Fade Away,” begins to dial the album down nicely, with Ed Williams opening on pedal steel guitar playing a haunting melodic line. Shaw sings openly about the difficulties of living in society today and how it can get lonely. “Would you come with me, I want you to come with me, cuz I can’t do this alone… oh society, is putting scars on my body, got me acting real naughty, setting fire to my home.” You can’t help but relate to the Ohio born singer-songwriter, and simultaneously applaud him for speaking so honestly and openly about his personal life experiences.

When asked if the band set out with a certain message in mind, drummer Campanelli insists that “we didn’t have one— it just goes back to us all getting along and our general view about the world and what we believe… it’s our experiences that go into the songs.”

The closing track, “Men Amongst Mountains,” is a good example of this. Ending on a hopeful note, it reminds us that we don’t have to go through life alone.  “Even the negative stuff feels positive,” says Campanelli. The final track has a lot to do with being on the road, dealing with things that arise from being gone so much and how that affects each of their personal lives. It was written during their first trip to the Colorado Rocky Mountains while staying at a friend’s parent’s home. “It’s about feeding the metaphor that ‘Keep Going’ and the rest of the record supports,” says Campanelli. “Feeling small in a giant world. When you go out into the world, it seems like it’s this big place, but once your spend a few years touring the country over and over again you start to meet people in every city. It no longer feels like you are alone in this giant place. Everywhere you go now you start to know people. It’s those connections that make the world feel much more manageable. From beginning to end, that’s the whole general purpose of the album. It encourages us to do these things and figure them out for ourselves.” 

Overall, Men Amongst Mountains is diverse in sound and pushes boundaries instrumentally, lyrically, and melodically, allowing us the opportunity to dance, sway, and even cry. The overall message is raw but hopeful, and with so many unanswered life questions in every song, Shaw seems to tap into the only possible answer: Love. “We know not what we do, but the changes we go through. Love makes it easy. It makes it alright.”

Get the album here and be sure to check out the Revivalists on their 2015 tour around the US, including their New Orleans album release party at Tipitina’s on 8/1 (more info).