The Brooks

★★★★ Any Day Now UNDERDOG. CD/DL Soul therapy for Montreal, ready to spread worldwide. A soul-funk octet from Québécois culture’s heart, The Brooks write, play, sing and produce music out of Montreal that’s firmly rooted in Cincinnati-New York-DetroitLos Angeles-Chicago. Turn Up The Sound, the penultimate track here, is a frisky testament to James Brown’s funk, with later explorers George Clinton and Sly Stone more influential on Game Play’s loose Funkadelic booty and the groove of Never Thought. Growing out of Soul Therapy nights at Montreal’s Dièse Onze jazz club started by bassist Alexandre Lapointe, The Brooks’ strong ensemble playing, which is also informed by Ohio Players, Cameo and AWB, has crisp horn/keyboard arrangements, a strong rhythm section, and in Floridaborn Alan Prater, a talismanic singer and extra brass-player who landed in Montreal in ’91. This is therapy that works.