The ingredients for killer soul music are all present in the Kansas City nine-piece band, The Freedom Affair, and they all come together on their new self-titled album.
At the front, Paula Saunders, Seyko Groves and Shon Ruffin are all powerful vocalists who are just as comfortable singing lead as they are harmony.
Drummer Dave Brick and bassist Brandon Moser hold down the rhythm, giving the group a funky low-end, no matter the style of soul they explore.
Guitarist Cole Bales has bluesy leads and funky riffs in spades, Chris Hazelton's Hammond B-3 and other keys add texture to every song, with the soaring horn lines of Pete Carroll on trumpet and Brett Jackson on saxophone rounding out the lineup.
The Freedom Affair is their sophomore album, showcasing the southern soul sounds of Memphis and Muscle Shoals. It was recorded in Memphis at the legendary Royal Studios with Boo Mitchell, a Grammy-award winning engineer and soul music royalty. Mitchell's father, the late Willie Mitchell, was a key figure in Memphis soul label Hi-Records, home to artists like Al Green, Ann Peebles and Otis Clay. He was also the founder of Royal Studios, where most of the label's '70s hits were cut.
The Freedom Affair went beyond simply recording in the same space as those soul legends. They also used some of the studio's original equipment, including a tape recorder last used in 1974. The techniques, equipment, personnel, and most importantly, the reverence the band has for soul music of that era, gives the album a timeless and authentic sound.
The opener "With You" serves as an introduction to the band as well as to the album. Bales' guitar begins with the song's main riff as a solo effort, joined by Hazelton's organ and Moser's bass in unison, then lead vocalist Groves, followed by drums from Brick and horns from Carroll and Jackson. The second verse begins with Groves asking, "Can we sing this song together?" Saunders and Ruffin's voices join on the final word and the whole crew is together.
The theme of connection, whether it's with lovers or community, is strong throughout the album.
"Picking Up The Pieces" comes next, a gritty description of a relationship gone bad and what comes after, while tapping into the loose funk of Muscle Shoals.
Some of the album's strongest moments come when The Freedom Affair turn their gaze to inequality and racism in America. Using the all too real metaphor of poisoned water as a metaphor for all that holds back Black Americans, "The Water" is a searing takedown of structural racism and an emphatic call for reparations.
"Get My Share" continues in the same vein, with all three vocalists singing in unison about a world where you have to work more to get less. Still, Saunders, Groves and Ruffin are going to overcome and get their share, no matter. The rest the band lays down a groove that is straight out of the Hi-Records playbook with jazzy chords, horn flourishes and stabs of organ that would make Willie Mitchell proud.
From there, the album stretches out to different areas of the soul music world, with the lights-down-low and sultry "Don't You Wanna Love Me," the endlessly catchy ode to authenticity and self-love in "Be Who You Are," to the horn-filled and sugary "Coming Home," all masterfully executed.
The Freedom Affair are keeping soul music alive in this self-titled released.
Must Listens
- "With You"
- "Picking Up The Pieces"
- "The Water"
- "Get My Share"
- "Don't You Wanna Love Me"
- "Be Who You Are"
- "Coming Home"
