After debuting their explosive, gospel-tinged retro-soul on 2014's
Half the City,
St. Paul & the Broken Bones looked to more complex, politically charged inspirations on the follow-up, Sea of Noise. It saw the eight-piece expanding their sound with components like strings, a choir, and synthesizers, and they continued in that vein on 2018's Young Sick Camellia while also looking to musical inspirations from the '70s in addition to the classic soul of the 1960s. They further develop and refine their sound as well as move up the timeline on their fourth long-player and ATO label debut,
The Alien Coast, whose songs incorporate psychedelic and stoner rock, glossy synths, and even hip-hop (beatmaker/sampler Randall Turner contributed to the album). A more reflective set of tracks on the whole than the band's prior releases, it took inspiration from history, Greek mythology, and related works of art that stuck with frontman
Paul Janeway after a sightseeing excursion in London. "Alien Coast" refers to European colonialists' nickname for the Gulf of Mexico. The album opens with rock-injected gospel organ and a fiery
Janeway on "3000 AD Mass," an under-90-second prelude. After that track buckles to close as if someone pulled the plug, the James Bond theme-adjacent "Bermejo and the Devil" delves into a steady, drugged-out funk-rock with whispering background voices and lyrics inspired by the painting Saint Michael Triumphs over the Devil. That song ends with a Spanish guitar lick undoubtedly in tribute to the titular painter. Robotic vocal effects alienate the otherwise jazzy instrumental jam "Atlas," and
St. Paul & the Broken Bones go full-on disco for "The Last Dance," a song about dancing in the face of catastrophe. The mercurial nature of
The Alien Coast continues with a handful of more refined tracks as well as "Hunter and His Hounds," which offers a booming, wail-fueled R&B that returns showstopper
Janeway to the stratosphere. Elsewhere, on the dreamier side of the spectrum, "Popcorn Ceiling" sinks listeners in between the sofa cushions with spacy synths, heavy echo and guitar sustain, and light, impressionistic drums. While
Janeway's passionate delivery is missed on the more tepid tracks and the instrumental, the album closes with a virtuosic falsetto performance on the somnambulant "Love Letter from a Red Roof Inn." Taken together,
The Alien Coast isn't as fun or as moving as
the Broken Bones' earliest releases, but their commitment to experimentation and growth is as impressive as their collective technical skill, and in this case, the act of discovery provides its own fascination. ~ Marcy Donelson