I'm over it now but about a decade ago I went through a few year stretch where my most listened to new groups played what is called dark Americana or goth country. Except when a calypso inspired jazz tune imparts a ghostly vibe, or someone plays one of the handful of Halloween songs available to the repertoire, there wasn't anything analogous in the traditional jazz world. Or so I thought.
The Devil's Jukebox are what could be described as a goth hokum band. They've played the dark cabarets of Leeds for around 15 years, producing four well received albums while maintaining a consistency of vision. A band built on elaborate characters and back stories, they are led by Dr. Ezekiel Bordello. He adapts lyrics from early jazz tunes to suit the band's backstory but where the chorus is so familiar that to change it would be "jarring" he'll sometimes leave that part the same.
Tracks on "Laughter in the Dark" include “Shanghai Mess Around”, “You May Weep”, “Footsteps in the Hall” and the “Mississippi Cathouse Blues”. "When the Levee Breaks" is a fantastic surprise, completely unhinged from the Memphis Minnie version let alone the Led Zeppelin one. The "Ballad of Calico Jones" is the new favorite among their fans.
They build a lot of emotional variety into twelve tracks. This album takes a more enclosed and personal tone then their previous record which had a bouncy bur
