Album Review: Can’t Lose My (Soul) by Annie & The Caldwells
Annie and the Caldwells return with a new studio LP with a psychedelic gospel inferno from a Mississippi clothing boutique.
After his days with Talking Heads, David Byrne shifted his focus toward nurturing emerging talent, encountering seasoned artists who had been performing for decades yet struggled to secure a record deal. Annie & The Caldwells are among these experienced performers. Their album was the culmination of 40 years of rehearsal. Since its inception, Luaka Bop has championed sounds that sometimes demand considerable tolerance from listeners—even when they center around pop. The productions released under Byrne’s label are consistently top-notch and audiophile events in their own right, and Can't Lose My (Soul), produced by Sinkane, is no exception.
The title track is a meditation on the soul itself. For ten minutes, the song forcefully guides us through the depths of this intangible mystery—the very element that inspired the naming of the soul genre. Within this tension-filled sonic architecture, where each layer supports and accentuates the others, and every voice claims a leading role, Sinkane displays his impeccable taste, orchestrating a veritable inferno. With a producer’s keen instincts, he interweaves moments reminiscent of the chimes in “Riders On the Storm” with the climactic energy of Sister Act.
What the two Whoopi Goldberg films taught us is that female singers must listen, respond, and interact with one another in a choir to create something both harmonious and alive—and that is precisely what is evident here. A vocal ensemble can only captivate its audience by blending the sacred qualities of gospel with the secular realities of everyday life, touching, stimulating, comforting, entertaining, and ideally moving listeners to dance.
Annie Caldwell and her husband once fretted when their children started school, confronting blues-rock, funk, and disco—the music, in their eyes, of the devil. In an effort to steer them towards the divine, they taught their kids gospel, yet the allure of “the devil” had already taken hold. The solution? A compromise: merging both styles to keep the devil at bay and ignite a passion for sacred sounds.
This Sister Act compromise employs sparse lyrics and repeated ad-lib in an endless, improvisational fashion—each iteration sounding fresh despite being the same line. After eight minutes, Mama Annie erupts once more, wild and gritted-teeth, pouring out her soul with a resounding “my soul cries out, Hallelujah.” Can’t Lose My (Soul) is pure magic—a knockout piece.
While the album revives gospel as an expression of pop culture, the track Dear Lord digs deep into lyrical substance with exclamations like “I thank you, Jesus! I thank you, Lord! (…) He shouldn’t be go-oo-ood to me/you’ve been good to me!” The vocal range on display spans from soft humming to the raw grit reminiscent of Marla Glen and the raspy, soulful edge of Etta James.
Complementing the ballad “I’m Going to Rise” in a yin–yang dynamic is the fiery disco burner Wrong. After a brief intro, it heats up quickly, recounting the trials of marriage—“being married/experienced heartache and pain”—and stages a grand performance marked by self-criticism and remorse. Daughter Deborah Caldwell-Moore is swept away in the torrent of her unleashed words; it’s as if the song is a musical confession. The video’s opening, shot in a clothing boutique run by Annie in her hometown of West Point, Mississippi, sets the stage for the vivid arrangements that would define this fantastic album.
The track “Don’t You Hear Me Calling” exudes a romantic, almost otherworldly vibe, interspersed with spoken-word segments and moments of playful vocal squeaking in the seventh minute—all set against a steady pulse of percussion (courtesy of son Abel Aquirius, a professional paramedic) and bass guitar (played by son Willie Jr., who works as a forklift operator). In this visionary tunnel, psychedelic rock with a funkiness inspired by Sly & The Family Stone emerges, with Can’t Lose My (Soul) itself setting new standards.
The euphoric and rousing “I Made It” features a psychedelic fuzz that illustrates the stark contrast underpinning the record: on one side, the church—a sanctuary—and on the other, the harsh realities of the outside world with its ambivalent temptations and abysses. On one hand, there is the energetic power of spirituality; on the other, incisive bursts in the funky bassline and the searing vintage guitar—reminiscent of Ghanaian highlife courtesy of Annie’s husband Joe—reminding us that the tranquil life between farm and church is nearly extinct, and the conflicts of urban living lurk around every corner.
In soft-spoken lyrics, “Wrong” declares, “You drop a bomb on me,” and the Caldwells perform it using a call-and-response technique. After an exuberant back-and-forth between solo and choral passages, culminating in a full-throttle reprise at the end, Can’t Lose My (Soul) delivers an unparalleled reimagining of soul and gospel for 2025—a phenomenal record with overwhelming dramaturgy!
Standout (★★★★½)
Favorite Track(s): “Wrong,” “Can’t Lose My Soul,” “I Made It,” “Dear Lord”