The Voodoo Organist

Upon hearing The Voodoo Organist for the first time, you can’t help but think, “Yup, that’s a voodoo organist, all right.” Unlike his colleagues in The Killers, Vampire Weekend, The New Pornographers, et al., lead singer and songwriter Scott Wexton is not one for ironic misnomers. Yes, Wexton’s preferred instrument is the organ — a wailing 1949 Hammond CV that he drags from show to show like a haunted sarcophagus. And, yes, Wexton’s seething musicianship does evoke religious supernaturalism, with danceable, fever-ridden songs about seduction (“I’ll Be Your Devil Tonight”), satanic glee (“Laughing at You”), and country-fried evangelical rage (“The End of This World, Parts I & II”). It’s what The Doors might have sounded like had Jim Morrison lived to cultivate an obsessive-compulsive interest in classic monster movies and revival-tent sermons. Describing his sound as “deep, heavy, like a steamroller,” Detroit native Wexton should be nearing delirium when he finally rolls into Phoenix — the last date in a relentless 16-show, 17-day tour that will have taken the band from California to Nebraska and everywhere in between. That’s what you call a voodoo work ethic.