The band drew inspiration from various musical tastes, including Motown records and soul music, and recorded the album in vocalist Michael Fitzpatrick's living room, which he dubbed Dillon Street Studios. It was produced by Fitzpatrick and Chris Seefried.
The first full-length album from Fitz & the Tantrums finds this L.A.-based sextet breaking out big time within the soul revival underground, though for a band that plays heavily on their D.I.Y. cred as their press materials frequently note, this album was primarily recorded in lead singer Michael Fitzpatrick's living room these songs find them playing to the polished and poppier end of the R&B spectrum. Principle songwriter Fitzpatrick and Tantrums' arranger James King (who also plays sax) lean to the more refined sounds of classic-era Motown, and the East Coast and Chicago styles that informed Northern soul, rather than the grittier Southern soul artists who recorded for Stax or Goldwax, and while these songs show a strong and obvious influence of classic ‘60s soul, there's more than a dash of contemporary pop in the way the hooks make themselves felt, the stylish layers of backing vocals, and the occasional use of drum loops. This is soul from the upscale night spot rather than the juke joint, but it's a club that's well worth the cover charge; Fitzpatrick is a significantly better than the average blue-eyed soul crooner, his vocal partner Noelle Scaggs is good enough that one wishes she got more space in the spotlight, and under King's direction, the band cuts an impressive groove without cluttering up the arrangements or depending too strongly on their influences to convincingly conjure the sound of the classic era of soul. Fitz & the Tantrums may lack some of the sweaty muscle of Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings, the current titans of the retro-soul scene, but this band is clearly going for a different approach, and on their own terms they've made a solid album that fuses past and present and creates a space that's a cool place to be.
01. "Breakin' the Chains of Love" (Fitzpatrick) - 2:51
02. "Dear Mr. President" (Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Seefried) - 2:59
03. "Pickin' Up the Pieces" (Fitzpatrick, Noelle Scaggs) - 2:45
04. "MoneyGrabber" (Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Seefried) - 3:09
05. "L.O.V." (Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Seefried) - 3:40
06. "News 4 U" (Fitzpatrick, Seefried, Jeremy Ruzumna) - 3:57
07. "Don't Gotta Work It Out" (Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Seefried) - 4:09
08. "Rich Girls" (Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Seefried) - 3:14
09. "Winds of Change" (Michael Fitzpatrick, Chris Seefried) - 4:09
10. "Tighter" (Fitzpatrick, Seefried, Ruzumna, James King, John Wicks, Ethan Philips) - 4:56
Michael Fitzpatrick – vocals, keyboards, percussion, production, engineering
Noelle Scaggs – vocals, percussion
James King – saxophone, flute
Ethan Philips – bass guitar
Jeremy Ruzumna – keyboards
John Wicks – drums, percussion
Maya Azucena – backing vocals
Sebastian Steinberg – bass guitar
Matt Cooker – cello
Miguel Atwood-Ferguson – violin
Stewart Cole – Trumpet
Josh Brauchhausen – drums
Scott Ellis – drums
Jen Kuhn – cello
Maya Sykes – backing vocals
Tay Strathairn – piano
Chris Seefried – guitar, bass, vocals, keyboards
Stephen Kaye – mixing
David Benitez – Additional engineering on "Rich Girls" and "Tighter"
Bernie Grundman – mastering
Producer - Chris Seefried, Michael Fitzpatrick
Recorded at: Culver City Music Factory, Dillon Street Studios, Los Angeles[1]
Genre: Soul, Pop
Length: 36:13
No comments:
Post a Comment