SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: BENNY TROKAN – DO YOU STILL THINK OF ME?

BENNY TROKAN
DO YOU STILL THINK OF ME?
WICK RECORDS

New York native and sought after collaborator for bands like Spoon, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, and Lee Fields and the Expressions, among many others, Benny Trokan has recorded his first solo project, Do You Still Think Of Me?, an ultra-cool collection of spaghetti soul rock that seems lifted from another era entirely. While not all twelve songs achieve the same heights as the best ones, the album is still an auspicious start to a solo career.

Early singles “It’s Time”, “Nowhere To Be Found”, and “Do You Still Think of Me?” revealed a sultry, unique spaghetti western rock sound led by Trokan’s perfectly designed voice and super chill delivery, but the full album doesn’t always keep to that premise. Opening track “Fever” is an upbeat jangler with easy lyrics and a rolling sound that leads into “Get It In The End,” another early release with super chill, psychedelic rock vibes that channel the grooviest, sun-in-your-eyes rock. It’s when you get to “Walking Back” a few tracks later that Trokan reveals a more successful sound—less garage-oriented, more soulful crooning, more transporting and evocative. “Turn Back You Fool” two tracks later follows in the same spirit, along with “You Don’t Get Me Down”, “Sorrow”, and closer “Do You Still Think of Me?” which all seem to succeed by tapping more into the spaghetti soul side of things and less into the ice cream shop psychedelia of “Fever”, “Long Shadows”, and “Save a Place for Me” which offer a less distinctive and dramatic sound.

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