Its been two years since the release of the first album, two years during which these young musicians have created a strong fan-base across the soul ballad circuit (the famous low rider scene) in the United States. Their success has owed much to the slow tempo and the falsetto voice on “Is It Any Wonder,” a track that took precedence over many of the hits on the debut album. As either commercial logic or a cry from the heart, the formation chose to move in this particular direction for American Love Call: an appeal to sensual and relaxed love that the string instruments and vocal harmonies make all the more sweet.
There is a delicacy, too, in the range of influences that have been well digested by the group of songwriters George Kerr (The Whatnauts, The Moments) and Curtis Mayfield. Yet while remaining silky, the aesthetics of Durand Jones and his troupe do not lose their substance; on the contrary, the bitter-sweet “Morning In America,” features these powerful utterances: “It’s color that divides / We can find our common side.” It’s current and it’s unstoppable: the soul music of Durand Jones & The Indications echoes the political climate it that bore it. It’s the best.
Durand Jones & The Indications – American Love Call (Dead Oceans)
