Virtually famous: St Paul & the Broken Bones
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You can file this Alabama septet under “new music that doesn’t sound new at all”. If their deep-fried R&B was any more authentic it would come with a certificate.
There are slow-burning horns, smoky church organ and, in bow-tied frontman Paul Janeway, the howlingest preacherman vocals imaginable. Otis Redding probably isn’t turning in his grave – he’s smiling and clicking his fingers.
We’ve been here before not that long ago, of course, with this band’s neighbours Alabama Shakes. Ben Tanner of the Shakes has produced St Paul’s debut album, Half the City, which is out on Monday. Another impressive Alabama local, John Paul White from The Civil Wars, co-owns the record label that signed them.
You may, quite reasonably, feel that you’d rather stick on a Redding or Wilson Pickett album than these Johnny-come-latelys. But you can’t see those giants live, and this lot will be in London three times this month: Rough Trade East, Oslo and the Electric Ballroom. In 2014, they’re as good as this kind of thing gets.
