Soulganic are a four piece US indie soul band who take their commitment to music very seriously. ‘From The Storm To The Sun’ is their second album – two years in the making – and you can read the full story on www.fromthestormtothesun.com … there, you’ll learn how the songs were crafted, tweaked, re-written, re-crafted and recorded only when the band were 100% happy with the result. ‘Happy’, though, is perhaps not the right word… you see the 11 tracker is a very serious affair. The album’s themes include drug addiction, infidelity, the savage injustice of the blood-diamond trade, class antagonism and absentee fathers and the soundscape they’ve created matches the harshness, the bleakness and the reality of the subject matter. The music on the album has a live and (obviously) organic feel about it and the crashing congas and insistent guitar phrasing might remind you of Curtis Mayfield’s early solo recordings though in places the feel is a whole lot rockier and more aggressive than anything the Gentle Genius ever created. Best example of that sound is the loose ‘Run’ and wild ‘Melt Away’ though at the other extreme ‘Remedios The Beauty’ is a sweet and gentle guitar-led instrumental that owes something to ‘Cavatina’! In between ‘Temporary Thrill’ and ‘How Does It Feel’ are both pleasing, gentle builders with memorable hooks while ‘Make You Beautiful’ is an effective, pleading ballad. ‘Carry On’ is a moodier ballad altogether and vocalist Anthony Rodriguez’s falsetto makes the most of the melody. Neither ballad could be described as “romantic” in the sweet, sentimental way that most modern music makers perceive a ballad… but that’s the secret and attraction of this album. There’s nothing here that formularised or clichéd. Sure, it won’t be to everyone’s taste but those who like to be seriously challenged could do worse than investigate.
(BB) 3/5
