Reigning Sound leader Greg Cartwright is only still in photos. The musician has released at least 15 studio albums with his three bands over the past two decades, in addition to producing Shangri-Las singer Mary Weiss’s terrific 2007 comeback album, Dangerous Game, and records from The Detroit Cobras, The Reatards and The Ettes and generally serving as an ambassador of Memphis’ underground rock scene. Though Cartwright has since moved to Asheville, N.C., Memphis, Tenn., is imprinted on his soul, and his latest, Shattered, may be his best pressing to date.
As the title suggests, the album is steeped in pain and heartbreak. Even one of the most upbeat numbers, the Saturday-night-with-my-girl ode “My My,” begins with the confession he’s never been lucky in love, though it doesn’t stop him “from loving to throw the dice.” It’s highlighted by the aching string-laden ballad “Never Coming Home,” which suggests something more in keeping with Burt Bacharach or Belle and Sebastian, presenting the titular sentiment as a dawning realization.
Shattered offers a more luxuriant strain of garage-soul than Cartwright has previously pursued, with decidedly more emphasis on the soul. “Memphis soul is just as faceted as it is in Detroit,” explains the 42-year-old artist. “You have the really gritty Stax Records, but you also have American Studio Productions with Chips Moman who made very smooth sounding records. It’s still soul, but it’s much smoother. I was trying to strike a spot somewhere in between.”
In some circles, Cartwright is better known for his lower-fi, more garage-driven bands Oblivians and Compulsive Gamblers. Indeed, after reuniting the Oblivians for some shows a few years ago, they released their first barebones blast of garage-punk fervor in 16 years, Desperation. Having gotten that out of his system, Cartwright promptly did a 180 with Shattered.
Credit some of that change to Reigning Sound’s latest lineup, which features holdover keyboardist Dave Amels and members of the Brooklyn retro-soul act The Jay Vons. That band had worked with Cartwright on an EP a few years prior, and they hit it off. The Jay Vons’ soul background inspired Cartwright, and he ran with the muse, even going so far as to record at the Brooklyn Studios of Daptone Records, Sharon Jones’ label.
“Getting The Jay Vons on board breathed new life into the band,” Cartwright says. “It’s definitely a different dynamic with these players. They have a lot more experience playing R&B and so it was an easy way to go for them, and I think there is more of an audience now for R&B and soul.”
While there’s sadness to Shattered, it’s not heavy with loss so much as wistful about the way it went down. He avers, “There’s a whole lot more to this story than the sound of falling rain,” and looks in the mirror when he says “You Did Wrong,” a tune evoking Box Tops-era Alex Chilton.
The Reigning Sound’s last release before Shattered was 2011’s eight-song Abdication…For Your Love EP. Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys produced five tracks on that fine, blues-tinged EP, which was paid for by the car company Scion and streams for free on Soundcloud.
“I was very skeptical about the whole thing,” Cartwright recalls of the EP’s unorthodox funding. “Then I was like, ‘Wait a minute—they’re giving these bands money that don’t have any money and they’re making a product and then giving it away.’ However that may benefit Scion cars, I can’t really figure exactly, but I do know how it will benefit the bands and the fans of those bands.”
If the generosity threw him, Cartwright quickly came aboard. “I thought this couldn’t really be a bad thing,” he says. “And it really isn’t because at the end of the day you still own music and the publishing. They didn’t want anything.”
There’s a first time for everything, even in the music business.
The Reigning Sound play the Cactus Club on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 9 p.m. with Space Raft and Phylums.
