St. Paul & the Broken Bones – Sea of Noise
When St. Paul and the Broken Bones dropped their 2014 debut LP Half the City on the public, so much fertile promise was revealed. The Ben Tanner-produced effort was far from perfect, mostly a canon of soul-infused garage jams still in need of sharpening, but it served as a proper introduction to the Southern soul revival band with a keen intellect of unbridled Otis Redding soul power. Heck, the disc,along with the group’s rapturous live show, was good enough to make them the opening act on a few stops for the Rolling Stones’ Zip Code tour.Two years later, and now with a renewed sense of self and profound innovation, the Birmingham, Ala. band shows off Sea of Noise, a record burning with sturdier tracks and plentiful homages to Memphis soul.
By J Matthew Cobb