![]() We thought that would be the best option, instead of horn lines. Horns sometimes can’t portray a certain darkness. The strings, for us, supply a darker tone. Janeway says of Snell, “He did all these classic, great records in Memphis – he did the string arrangements on them. The strings – recorded at Memphis’ historic Sam Phillips Recording by engineer Jeff Powell – were arranged by Lester Snell, a veteran of Stax Records sessions by Isaac Hayes, Shirley Brown, Albert King, and the Staple Singers, among many others. On Sea of Noise, the band’s brawny horn-driven sound is augmented – and displaced - by the use of a string quartet and a vocal choir. Producer-wise, I think we knocked a home run. Butler ended up being the guy that we wanted to use. “It sounded like a real record – everything had depth, and was expansive-sounding. “Jesse was listening to one of his records and he said, ‘Everything sounds great,’” Janeway recalls. Paul and the Broken Bones entered the studio with Butler, leader of the British band the Bees and producer of Devendra Banhart and Michael Kiwanuka. With a full complement of new songs in hand, St. Janeway adds that his reading of the book Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, played a role in the direction of the work: “I didn’t want it to be an overly political record, but I feel it shows up a little bit on the album.” If you’re going to say something, say something, and don’t waste your breath unless you feel like you’re saying something.” “I had to sit and think about what I’m saying – what do I want to say, is there anything to say? What’s my perspective as this Southern kid who’s watching the modern world and feeling very much like an alien in a lot of ways. “I’m married to a woman with a masters in literature, and I can’t show her lyrics unless I’m pretty proud of ‘em,” he says. Looking to such inspirations as Tom Waits and Nick Cave, Janeway was intent on lifting his game as a songwriter on material for the second album. I wanted to take it up a notch, in all realms.” That gave me the ability to work on harmonies on the vocals. And me and Jesse and a few of us would send stuff back and forth via Dropbox. Then we rented out a very hot warehouse in Birmingham where we could write. The week in between the two weekends, we really started to hash things out. Work began in earnest during last year’s Coachella festival in California: “We rented a house in San Bernardino Valley National Park. “There would have been nothing wrong with that. “If we had been forced to go into a studio a year and a half ago, we probably would have done a better version of Half the City,” he says. ![]() Janeway says that he and his close musical associate Phillips began to ponder the direction of the band’s second album a year and a half ago. You can draw people in by giving and taking.” You don’t have to go for it 100% all the time. ![]() I was just learning more nuance, and about carrying a melody. I didn’t know my voice – I’d never done this professionally. We were only a band for about five months at that point. There’s a sense of urgency to having a record like that. “With the last record, it was like doing things with your hair on fire – going in, recording it live. “It felt like it happened organically,” Janeway says of the band’s development. The new album witnesses a deepening and broadening of the unit’s musical reach and lyrical concerns. Sea of Noise is a successor to the Broken Bones’ 2013 debut album Half the City, which introduced the group’s blazing mating of ‘60s soul fire – daubed with latter-day influences like Sly Stone, David Bowie, and Prince - to Janeway’s impassioned singing and writing. The collection of new original songs is the group’s first release on RECORDS, a joint venture of SONGS Publishing, winner of ASCAP’s 2016 independent publisher of the year award, and veteran label executive Barry Weiss. Longtime members Paul Janeway (lead vocals), Jesse Phillips (bass, guitar), Browan Lollar (guitars), Andrew Lee (drums), Al Gamble (keyboards), and Allen Branstetter (trumpet) are joined by Jason Mingledorff (saxophone, clarinet, flute), and Chad Fisher (trombone). Produced by Paul Butler and recorded at Nashville’s Sound Emporium, the group’s sophomore effort features an expanded eight-piece lineup of the widely praised soul-based rock unit. ![]() Paul and the Broken Bones, marks a quantum leap in sound and style for the high-voltage Birmingham, Alabama-based band. Sea of Noise, the second full-length album by St.
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