For as much as it is prized and praised, originality is largely a myth; every artist recycles and reimagines what came before them, perpetually blurring the lines between homage and imitation. That\u2019s true in every creative field that\u2019s beyond its infancy, but perhaps none moreso than 21st century popular music. At least, that\u2019s the thought that came to mind when contemplating a fervent, dynamic classic-soul big band made up of eight white guys who weren\u2019t born yet when this genre had its heyday. \u00a0<\/p>\n
St. Paul And The Broken Bones\u2014Paul Janeway (vocals), Jesse Phillips (bass), Al Gamble (keys), Browan Lollar (guitar), Andrew Lee (drums), Allen Branstetter (trumpet), Jason Migledorff (sax), and Chad Fisher (trombone)\u2014first made themselves known to this writer performing Sea Of Noise<\/i> single \u201cAll I Ever Wonder\u201d on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on August 30, 2016, and I\u2019ve been trying to figure out exactly how I feel about them ever since.<\/p>\n
St. Paul\u2019s sound is old-school, full-bodied soul music with strong funk and gospel overtones, like Al Green and Sam Cooke invited Sly Stone over for an all-night party. The element this particular group adds that advances that vision and gives it a bit of a fresh twist is fiery showmanship, a kind of Broadway\/Vegas flair that leads them to push and amplify every moment they conceivably could in these songs, making them bigger and bolder and more emphatic. <\/p>\n
Another key decision the group makes is not to play covers; this is an album of 10 original tracks\u2014all credited to the entire band, though it\u2019s been widely acknowledged that frontman Janeway is the group\u2019s lyricist and Phillips its musical director\u2014interspersed with a three-part interlude\/overture, the dreamy \u201cCrumbling Light Posts.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAll I Ever Wonder\u201d is definitely a highlight, all crooning and Hammond organ through the first verse until it hits the chorus and explodes\u2014but it\u2019s one of several. On the upbeat side of things, \u201cFlow With It\u201d rides a silky groove as Janeway mounts the pulpit for a sermon on earthly delights, while \u201cMidnight On Earth\u201d moves from hook to hook as the charismatic frontman sets his falsetto to \u201cdazzle.\u201d \u201cBrain Matter\u201d and \u201cTears In The Diamond\u201d play with Motown tropes while addressing serious topics.<\/p>\n
The ballads that make up about half of this album are uniformly solid but maybe a little less memorable, though the swaying horns and big finishes on both \u201cSanctify\u201d and \u201cBurning Rome\u201d make an impression. Interestingly, while these songs and the performances heard here are drenched in emotion, the lyrics often don\u2019t make it easy to connect; they tend to be intense but abstract, painting a series of flickering images and impressions rather than trying to tell a story. <\/p>\n
Also notable is the fact that the Broken Bones have close ties with fellow Alabaman Jason Isbell and his crew; guitarist Lollar is formerly of Isbell\u2019s band The 400 Unit, and Gamble\u2019s brother Chad is the 400 Unit\u2019s drummer. While one group plays Americana and the other soul, they share the same distinct sensibility and perspective of woke white Southerners, a profile that offers abundant material to unpack.<\/p>\n
In the end, whatever misgivings I might have had about cultural appropriation were washed away by the sheer passion and commitment of St. Paul And The Broken Bones. They\u2019re not imitators; they\u2019ve simply embraced an archetypal style that they clearly revere and want to embody and uplift. On Sea Of Noise<\/i>, St. Paul And The Broken Bones recreate key elements of classic soul as a framework for a set of passionate songs that might not always connect with your head, but never fail to reach your heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":33842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[10395],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-45664","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-st-paul-and-the-broken-bones","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45664"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}