Durand Jones & the Indications
start their third album with a heartening ballad that just as appropriately could have been the finale. "Love Will Work It Out," a composite of
Earth, Wind & Fire
and classic Philly soul with a
Joel Ross
vibraphone solo to boot, reflects upon "folks overtaken by disease" and "modern day lynchings." The song hits like a culmination but conversely incorporates what can be heard as the main theme of
Private Space
: "Joy will set us free." It's almost jarring how fast the album puts it to practice by snapping into dancefloor action with the brilliant "Witchoo," an uptempo call-and-response disco-funk jam whisked by a fleet bassline from new member
Mike Montgomery
. That's the first of nine pleasurable and loved-up songs that take the band's sound deep into the '70s with more lush ballads and elegant-yet-tough disco grooves sprouted from deep '60s-soul soil. The contrast, interplay, and exchange of duties between the church-bred frontman
Jones
and falsetto foil
Aaron Frazer
(also the drummer, fresh off the solo flight
Introducing...
) are fully exposed here as the band's greatest assets.
The Indications
also put strings, plus sweet background vocals from the women of
79.5
, to optimal use. It all coalesces with songwriting that has an imaginative edge over
the Indications
' more studious previous albums. Although
sounds during silkier moments like it could drift into covers of specific songs by
Blue Magic
and
Sylvia
, or any number of gems either arranged by
Gene Page
or powered by
Philadelphia International
house band
MFSB
, it's certainly distinct for 2021. None of
' contemporaries have put together a set as distinctly purpose-built and delightful as this one. ~ Andy Kellman