Thee Sacred Souls
Photo: WireImage, Jim Bennett. All rights reserved.
A nice surprise: Thee Sacred Souls, one of the best new soul acts from the USA, is coming to Weissenhäuser Strand. Last year, the trio from San Diego (with the addition of four additional musicians for live performances) released their debut album on the expert label Daptone, whose founder Gabriel Roth produced it himself.
And he may have fulfilled a heartfelt wish. Their talent for mid-tempo tracks and ballads sets the band apart from other retro soul acts. Walk, don’t run seems to be their motto, they leave constant uptempo fire to others. Singer Josh Lane and his rhythm section consisting of Alex Garcia (drums, guitar) and Sal Samano (bass) ignite an ember that constantly smolders. Their songs are reminiscent of Smokey Robinson and early Marvin Gaye; Lane’s fine falsetto, harmony singing and his call and response, especially with singer Jensine Benitez, are like something out of the wedding of sixties and seventies soul. Their style is also impeccable: two mustaches with high pleated trousers, a full beard with a casual blouson – very breezy and Californian, like their sound.
Of course, Thee Sacred Souls are against being labeled as a “retro band” – let’s put it this way: They have everything that would have made a band of our day successful in 1973. Even though their lyrics sometimes seem a bit undercomplex, Josh Lane’s voice, which delicately oscillates between velvet and woodchip, lets them fly. If you ever fall into a time gap, you don’t have to worry. And yet, a piece like “Easier Said Than Done” most elegantly combines great soul tradition with trace elements of today. Thee Sacred Souls are more than just a retro band, the feather-light and at the same time intense pastiche of Chicano and Chicago, Memphis and modern soul ignites in the here and now. Timbaland is already interested.