Most accomplished soul singers might scoff at the auto-tuned homogeneity of modern radio, but southern soul provocateur Swamp Dogg (née Jerry WIlliams Jr.) found himself incredibly inspired by it. Love, Loss And Auto-Tune finds Williams’ tried-and-true southern soul sound colliding with producer Ryan Olson’s (Poliça, Gayngs, Bon Iver) lush, Spector-indebted arrangements, clanging 808 rhythms and mutant vocal processing, the latter handled personally by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Vernon lends his own vocals to the stunning “I’ll Pretend,” a character study about “a guy sitting in a restaurant by himself losing his fucking mind because he’s hoping his woman is gonna walk by, but she's at a Ramada Inn somewhere fucking somebody else to death.” Together with Olson, Vernon and Larry ‘Moogstar’ Clemon, Williams flips standards out of the great American songbook completely on their ass, starting the album with a tender rendition of Carl Sigman’s  “Answer Me, My Love” and closing with Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust.” Other highlights include the soaring “She’s All Mind All Mind,” “Sex With Your Ex” and “Lonely.” It’s worth the price of admission just to be able to read his ‘Dogg Notes’ on the back cover: “This album has gone digital crazy. It can only be compared to the great feeling you get after an Academy Award shit, following four days of constipation or cumming three times back to back” - um… okay? (He goes on to detail his plans to run for president with Lil Wayne as his running mate, and his 100 day plan which includes relocating the White House to South Central LA with OJ Simpson as FBI Director… wild shit…) Honestly, probably the first and last time you’ll ever hear anything that sounds quite like this. Limited edition metallic gold colored vinyl edition housed in glossy gatefold sleeve with full album lyrics and code for digital download.

• gold colored vinyl
• includes collaborations with Justin Vernon of Bon Iver
• housed in glossy gatefold jacket
• limited edition
• digital download included
• music label: Joyful Noise Recordings 2018

reviewed by Sarakaya Komzin 09/2018