St Paul and the Broken Bones - Sea of Noise

Opening with a big choir-full "sea of noise" on "Crumbling Light Posts" (which is reprised twice during the record), the Broken Bones sophomore effect then goes on to mine similar, soulful territory as their debut, Half the City. There continues to be plenty of Al Green influences - I still feel that this is the biggest inspiration for singer Paul - along with dance-able soul/funk such as in "Flow With It" and "Midnight on the Earth". The group specializes in soul ballads, though, such as "I'll Be Your Woman", "Sanctify", "Waves" and even the somewhat more upbeat "All I Ever Wonder".

I hear a hint of Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" in "Brain Matter", some Otis Redding (dig the horns and the build-up) in "Burning Rome", back to Al Green for "Tears in the Diamond", then they turn the folk song "Gotta Travel On" into soul for their own "Is It Me" before the record ends with the last reprise of "Crumbling Light Posts".

The band is spot-on throughout, but the highlight is Paul's voice - it's a cliche, but he truly does use it as an instrument, especially in his high-key wails and tuneful shrieks. The keyboardist (mostly Hammond B3), Al Gamble, seems to be the primary songwriter, so I guess that he is the one guiding Paul's voice into these soulful realms, as well as leading the band to their own heights behind him. As usual, I do wish that there was a bit more edge to the music here - this is super-polished - but the Broken Bones remain a fine modern soul band, well worth diggin' on.