Step into a time machine with this modern soul throwback.
Somewhere in the back of a record store in West San Antonio, there’s a stack of old 45s that hardly anyone knows exists. It’s got deep cuts from all the classic Jox Records Tejano soul outfits: groups like The Eptones, The Royal Jesters, and The Dreamliners. Spinning these records today, they sound like bygones. Jox and its contemporaries were local, independent labels that didn’t have the money to release full albums, never mind singles with polished production. However, the vestiges of the label’s signature sound - watery guitar leads, tight rhythm sections, aching lead vocals, and youthful harmonies - still cut through the static. These rare singles, with their themes of heartbreak and eerie atmospheres, served as soundtracks for the lovelorn teenage years of many South Texan Tejanos in the early 60s.
While the original vinyls might still be collecting dust, the spirit of “Brown-Eyed Soul” is still very much alive in Thee Sacred Souls. The San Diego trio’s first full-length project, a self-titled LP that dropped in August of 2022, has the feel of those aforementioned old 45s, both sonically and aesthetically. Though the lo-fi production is left behind, the instrumental and thematic motifs remain prominent, and the album cover’s bold and simple design recalls conventions of the golden age. This revival comes as no surprise: bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia, who are responsible for those tight rhythm sections, grew up on Tejano soul groups. Additionally, Daptone Records, the indie label that produced the project, has been keeping the sound of 60s soul alive for over 20 years now.
The group’s sophomore effort, Got a Story to Tell, despite being similar to the debut in many respects, delivers a greater balance of styles. On Thee Sacred Souls, lead vocalist Josh Lane often imitates the playful delivery that characterized Tejano bands of the early 60s. The sound of Got a Story to Tell, however, shifts slightly more towards his influences. “Live for You,” one of the more outstanding cuts on the tracklist, is perhaps the best example of this. The arrangement features a groovy bongo pattern and soaring strings which, combined with Lane’s easy confidence on the mic and the song’s themes of love as a healing mechanism, are distinctly reminiscent of some of the most memorable moments on Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.
Not all attempts at capturing the essence of Gaye’s Philadelphia Soul scene are successful though, as the penultimate “One and the Same” proves. In the late 60s and early 70s, Gaye and his contemporaries took an understated approach to socially conscious lyricism, opting for simple verses that offered love as the antidote for the ills of the world. On “One and the Same,” Lane tries to capture this same attitude:
Hungry people, fed bombs not bread
Hurting people, being misled
Wealthy people, turn a blind eye
When will the people wake up and realize?
We're one in the same, I pray one day
We learn to fight for each other
Not with each other
Knowing how directly Thee Sacred Souls pull from their influences and considering the lack of depth in his writing compared to the artists he’s taking inspiration from, hearing Lane pontificate like this feels especially contrived. Unfortunately, this is not the only time where subpar songwriting is a problem on Got a Story to Tell. “Stuck in the Mud” is built around a rather weak metaphor that compares being helplessly in love to being–you guessed it–stuck in mud. It doesn’t help that the main vocal refrain, “stuck in the mud of love,” is just about as on-the-nose as it gets when it comes to metaphorical writing.
Aside from these writing hiccups, Got a Story to Tell is mostly a pleasant experience. Its 38-minute runtime feels breezy, though Lane’s frequent use of falsetto might lead to ear fatigue. The band has said on multiple occasions that they see this record as thematically darker than the previous one, but there is hardly a moment of harshness or severity across the 12 tracks, save the patch of noise and Lane’s shrill singing at the end of “In the Mirror.” Mainly, this album suffers from a relative lack of punch. None of the singles in the leadup to its release made the same impression that songs like “Can I Call You Rose?” or “Easier Said Than Done” did in anticipation of their self-titled splash, and none of them deserved to. While Got a Story to Tell benefits from a strong aesthetic fortified by its roomy atmosphere, Lane’s buttery vocals, and clean performances from Garcia and Samano, it does not give listeners a reason to be itching for playbacks.
The dilemma for Thee Sacred Souls, should this pattern continue, is their novelty; breathing life into a long-gone movement is refreshing until it isn’t. As a band operating in a 60-year-old genre, the question of where to go next is a difficult one. Surely, continuing to release albums using the same formula they have employed (with subtle progressions) for the last four years is not sustainable. At some point, Thee Sacred Souls might have to make drastic adjustments to their sound, or there’s a good chance they will go the way of the bands that raised them.