The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
BREAKING GROUND
On latest album, Alabama-based retro soul-rock act St. Paul & The Broken Bones has added surprising seasoning to its recipe
In the world of film, young directors who enjoy critical acclaim are often given leeway when it comes to content and run-times. For musicians, such creative freedom tends to involve artistic control. Both concepts come to mind regarding rock ‘n’ roll soul band St. Paul & The Broken Bones, which watched its 2014 debut album, “Half the City,” and its 2016 follow-up, “Sea of Noise,” garner critical acclaim and national attention thanks to group appearances on “The Late Show With David Letterman,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” “Conan,” “Austin City Limits” and “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.”
Now the Alabama-based, retro-sounding band’s career has entered into to the aforementioned content and artistic-control phase with the release of 2018 album “Young Sick Camellia,” a slightly oblique yet creative soul-exposing endeavor tackling familial relationships in — both figuratively and literally — the hot and sticky South.
“We worked with hip-hop and modern R&B producer Jack Splash, so that was definitely something we haven’t done in the past, musically-speaking,” said vocalist Paul Janeway, calling from Birmingham, Alabama.
“We used a lot of synthesizers on this record. There’s some sub-base frequencies on this thing that we certainly never did before, but, to me, we’re still intact. It’s still us. To me, it’s just a stretching of the music and a stretching of our sound and trying not to get to beholden to anything.”
The new music directions — samples, unique rhythms and new instruments — are highlighted on standout songs that include the epic “Convex,” the upbeat “Apollo” and the intensely emotional “LivWithoutU.”
Lyrically, “Young Sick Camellia” finds Janeway working through issues of self-image stemming from growing up a liberal in “Sweet Home Alabama” country while also commenting on the complicated relationships between himself, his father and grandfather, Papaw, whose voice can be heard throughout the album as spoken word. Sadly, Papaw died before the release of the album.
“To me, it’s Southerngothic,” Janeway said. “You have the Southern charm of ‘Thank you’ and that stuff, but then there’s also this dark, complicated history. I’ve had touching conversations with folks where they talk about the complicated nature of those relationships (with relatives) because there are some that did not-great things.
“Birmingham was definitely put into the forefront internationally for the race relations in the ‘60s. For a lot of people to kind of hear the accent, they make certain assumptions. To me, it’s a kind of complex place to be from. When Papaw passed, my dad didn’t shed a tear. Not that he didn’t love him — it was just a complicated relationship. So the album was kind of a little window into that.”
Perhaps to change things up for the next record, Janeway should considering writing about, say, daisies, cotton candy and butterflies?
“I’m with you,” Janeway laughed. “I think the record label would prefer that. It is weird, because my natural inclination is to go tackle something somewhat personal, you know? So daisies, cotton candy and butterflies don’t get my motor running, but maybe. We’ll see.”