St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Half the City (2014) Single Lock - Soul (FLAC)

 I first heard this band on the radio as a new release and was instantly blown away by their raw retro soul sound. I was stunned to find out it was a bunch of white dudes from Birmingham Alabama !..St. Paul's origin story is quite common. White Southern kids chase the region's African American musical spark, led by a singer with astounding lung capacity who came up in the church, as well as a guitarist who'd paid some dues before blossoming into their own sound. But the little things make a difference. Paul Janeway(vocalist) loves the soul legend O.V. Wright and the overlooked gospel great Alex Bradford. Lollar (guitarist) fills his riffs with unexpected color. The horn section has the energy of undergrads, which its members were until they graduated from Samford University last year. St. Paul and the Broken Bones' music doesn't just mimic the sounds its members love; it regenerates the tradition. This is what happens when players are unusually in tune with each other and with the discoveries they're sharing. Half the City is the first major recorded statement from a band already growing into greatness.Here's a new American old school soul band with the perfect pedigree. They recorded their album in Muscle Shoals with help from producer Ben Tanner of the Alabama Shakes, using vintage technology to replicate the sound of the great southern soul performers of the 60s. They are not pure revivalists , they write their own material, which is often adequate rather than memorable, but their style is steeped in the musical traditions of the region, and they are helped by a remarkable singer in Paul "St Paul" Janeway,who was brought up listening to gospel music in a religious household who originally planned to become a clergyman, and mixes a great preacher's sense of theatre with a fabulous gospel/soul voice and the ability to switch between lyrical and frenzied passages within the same song. They should be exhilarating live, i hope they come over to the UK.  Their debut album has took them all over the world and then landed them on David Letterman. Thats how good they are!

AMM

                                                                        The Tasters!