The Altons are a Los Angeles quartet – Bryan Ponce, Adriana Flores, Caitlin Moss and Gabriel Maldonado – and if you’re familiar with their singles from last year, the building ballad ‘Float’ and the breezier ‘Cry For Me’, you’ll know that they deliver a retro sound that’s a cocktail of classic group soul, Brill Building pop and Low Rider sensitivities. Those singles were released on the Daptone subsidiary, Penrose, but this, their debut album, bears the full Daptone imprint, so that should tell you that their music is as just described – yes, retro with a soulful undertow.
And that was the sound on the LP-heralding singles, the moody, 60s flecked ballad, ‘Your Light’ and the stately ‘Del Cielo te Cuido-‘ which we think means “I’ll take care of you from Heaven”. This one’s a sweet and lovely, harmonic Bolero aimed directly at the Latino/Low Rider constituency who’ll also be delighted with the jauntier ‘Perdoname’ (‘Forgive Me’). Indeed, though the remaining tracks are in English, each one will have appeal to those on the Low Rider scene.
A major part of the Altons’ appeal is in the harmonic interplay of the two lead voices – (Bryan Ponce, Adriana Flores). Hear it at its most charming on the ethereal ‘Where Did She Go’ but each and every track reveals the chemistry between them .
‘Heartache in Room 14’ is an intensely romantic album that steers clear of saccharine and sentimentality . So, no coincidence that it’s being released this Friday, 14th February, -Valentines’ Day if you didn’t know!
(BB) 4/5
