St. Paul & The Broken Bones – Angels in Science Fiction (ATO) Album Review ⭐⭐⭐

St. Paul & The Broken Bones are five albums deep in a career spanning 10 years.
Reputedly one of the best live bands in the US – I’d like to make a judgement on that myself – the 8-piece serve up a southern soul sound woven around the vocals of Paul Janeway.
It’s all fairly slick and well-produced, and you need only one listen to understand how it could fit comfortably into most mainstream American radio shows.
There’s nothing offensive or abrasive on Angels in Science Fiction, which plugs away diligently over 12 songs.

Accessible, pleasant and professional – and nothing wrong with that. Janeway reflects gently on the world around him, the birth of a daughter, nature and all sorts of nice things.
His falsetto dominates the record, reminiscent of Mick Jagger in his milder moments, flame-haired English pop icon Mick Hucknall (Simply Red), or even Durand Jones. And there’s a sense it’s very much Paul’s band, given their name and the fact there’s already four “former members”.

The problem is… Paul kinda ruins it. Three or four songs in and you’ve quickly learned his range and style is somewhat limited. And from there, it’s all a bit dull.
I’ve been listening to soul music since I was a child, with my dad having invested in albums by Stevie Wonder and Earth, Wind and Fire.

Now I’m not comparing St Paul and the Broken Bones to those titans, but every good soul album deserves an uptempo stomper, a rowdy sing-along-number, and for heaven’s sake please give us something to dance to, a really funky one.
None of those things are to be heard on  Angels in Science Fiction. The songs, all 12 of them, sound very similar.  It’s only the country tinge of Lonely Love Song breaking up what is otherwise a fairly monotonous listen, as the album winds along really going nowhere and reaching a creative dead end.

None of the songs really stood out.
I really wanted to like this, and on face value, it’s right up my street.
Sadly, the sheer lack of variety and overpowering warbling of the lead singer denies the band a chance to really show us what they can do. Maybe that’s on one of their other albums?

Passable, but little more.
⭐⭐⭐
Jeff Neems

Angels In Science Fiction is released Friday, April 21st. 

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