Super review by Cal Gibson, of The Secret Soul Society.

Ah lovely… summer in South Wales: a world in which the sun seems to have cancelled itself, and in its place the rain falls, and falls, and falls. And falls. And falls some more. There is a reason this part of our beautiful planet is so green after all.

Truth to tell, the wash-out summer suits the mood: a weary reckoning with troubles seems to be the default setting currently. Love and laughter and lightness struggle to peep through the murky waters. Sourness abounds. MId-life blues hitting low and slow.

Time then to turn to art for succour, and the rather beautiful Soul Liberation‘s Who Are You? Originally birthed in Dallas in 1982, it’s a spine-tingling collection of gospel bangers, all aimed squarely at making sure you’ve checked in with whichever deity you may (or may not) have chosen.

For those of us uninvited to the religious shindig, worry not: the music is warm enough for even the most dedicated atheist. Sweet soulful keys draped over languorous basslines, topped off with heavenly (literally) harmonies. Whichever god this is, he sure has a batch of holy modal rounders to call upon for the Sunday night fish and loaves throwdown.

It Won’t Go Away utilises a chord vamp not unlike Steely Dan’s Peg, holding down Jimmy Miller and Paul Greenidge’s syrupy vocal licks perfectly. Soothing, sensual, sweeter than molasses – it’s been on repeat in a desperate attempt to dial up some summery feels.

Heavenly Places is a mid-tempo holy stroller: putting the funk into the ancient stories, maxing out the smoothness, making sure that the holy trinity is fired up with lashings of dancefloor goodness. ‘That’s where I want to be / In those heavenly places / Just Jesus and me’ they sing, and it’s almost enough to make you repent. Almost.

Put On The Whole Armor drops the pace further, achingly beautiful vocals arching over bass poured from the above – chanting down Babylon in a souled-out storm of emotion and love. The drums ticking over, the beat bouncing around the ambience – an after-hours power-play for sure.

Touch Me Again maintains the high quality: its keyboard lick falling away into more vocal acrobatics. The keys again warm and inviting, the b-line wandering, but poised. Some fine guitar parts adding their secret sauce, on another finely-judged soulful concoction.

As we’ve come to expect, BBE are currently putting out a whole heap of wonderful music – the ace Reference Point compilation and Joe Claussell brilliantly reworking Brian Jackson spring immediately to mind – but trust me this little album is right up there with the best of them. A label run on love, releasing music based on love, for people who love good music. What’s not to love, right?

BBE will reissue Soul Liberation’s Who Are You? at the end of this month. You can preoder via Bandcamp.