Music Review: Newworldson, Salvation Station

By Steve Morley

Soul music is a direct descendant of the gospel style born in the African-American Pentecostal church of the late 19th century. Ray Charles is commonly credited with creating the soul genre by grafting elements of black gospel into his rhythm-and-blues-based sound, controversially blurring the line between spiritual fervor and overt sensuality. The key early soul performers who followed—Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and Aretha Franklin—all started out singing gospel music in churches pastored by family members. The influence of the black church would ultimately be heard in a wide swath of mainstream popular music that borrowed freely from its rhythmic intensity and passionate vocal style, while substituting secular content for sacred. The white Canadian quartet Newworldson follows in the hallowed blue-eyed soul tradition, but with one notable exception: as Christian believers, they want to reclaim gospel’s religious intention without removing the earthy grooves and entertainment value of soul music or its various pop and rock offshoots. Their second album, Salvation Station, is imbued with a sense of energetic fun that sometimes belies the seriousness of their mission. 

“Workin’ Man,” a mash-up of James Bond film-score music and The Munsters’ theme, plays as much like a novelty as a declaration of Kingdom labor. Here, the band departs from its hard-driving neo-soul and gospel-rock formula, as is the case on the reggae-flavored, family-friendly “City Bus Love Song.” Whimsical diversions like these point to the band’s potency as a crowd-pleasing live act, demonstrating their versatility but compromising their standing as legitimate purveyors of classic soul. The band’s desire to pay tribute to its musical influences occasionally results in moments that sound awkward or overzealous, as on “Waitin’ Till the Rapture Come.” The song attempts to honor both the gospel and blues traditions, but plays a bit like a parody of an old spiritual. (“Old man Jonah, sittin’ in his chair/ Got no teeth and got no hair/ Got no daughter and he got no son/ He’s just waitin’ till the rapture come.”)

But the extended ending of “Rapture” is only one example of the impressive musicianship and chemistry heard throughout the disc. When Newworldson uses its collective power in the service of its most focused and lyrically developed songs, the result satisfies both the spirit and the sweet tooth. (“Keep your soul in mind when you reach that borderline/ There’s a crossing that divides right from wrong/ There’s a line in the sand—have you chosen where you stand/ You can linger but you can’t linger long/ When you’re standing at the borderline…”) “Borderline” delivers an uncompromising funk-rock sermonette about the dangers of spiritual fence-straddling, while “Sweet Holy Spirit” offers a rare respite from the album’s brisk pace and one of its most penetrating sentiments. (“…In my heart, I’m chained up and bound/ If pride is my prison, then grace be my key/ Sweet Holy Spirit/ Come rescue me.”)

Because Newworldson’s derivation of soul and gospel picks up its influences downstream from the original source, it won’t quench hard-core fans of those bedrock African-American styles. But if you’re up for a holy-rolling locomotive ride that visits a few important landmarks, Salvation Station is the place to get on board.

Audio Clips

"Working Man"

"Sweet Holy Spirit"

"Borderline"

"Waitin' Till The Rapture Come"