Thee Sacred Souls: Thee Sacred Souls [DAPTONE RECORDS]

Why you'll love it

The debut from San Diego's sweet-soul trio, on LP from Daptone, the label that invited them in after only their second show. Metacritic scored it 84, and Uncut called it "barrel-aged, laced with Latin, lyrically inventive, and peculiarly fresh."

This edition

• Daptone Records LP pressing
• Single LP, 12 tracks

About the album

Most bands spend years trying to get a label's attention. Thee Sacred Souls played two shows. Bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia met in San Diego in 2018, bonding over chicano soul, doo-wop and the lowrider oldies scene of Chula Vista and Imperial Beach, and when singer Josh Lane joined in 2019 the thing clicked so fast that Daptone's Bosco Mann (Gabe Roth to his friends) was inviting them up to his Penrose Studios in Riverside after gig number two.

This self-titled debut came out in August 2022, and it sounds like a slow dance under a string of patio lights: Lane's feathery falsetto floating over warm, unhurried grooves on the early single that had quietly racked up millions of streams before the album even arrived, plus "Easier Said Than Done," "Overflowing" and "Lady Love." Metacritic called the response universal acclaim, KCRW put it among the best albums of 2022, and the band went on to play Jimmy Kimmel Live! and open for Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats and Portugal. The Man. If you've worn out your Al Green records and need something new that feels old in the best way, this LP is it.

"Barrel-aged deep soul, laced with Latin, lyrically inventive, and peculiarly fresh."
Uncut

On Daptone, first out in 2022.