I’ve heard a lot of buzz online about these guys lately from guitar focused YouTube channels like Michael Palmisano aka Guitargate in a recent video in his “Guitar Teacher REACTS” series, as well as from Rhett Shull in an interview on Mary Spender’s channel, both of whom talk about music and guitar often in depth. If you haven’t checked them out and you want to learn more about music and especially guitar, they’re all excellent channels to check out. I didn’t watch the whole video from Michael Palmisano (only watched the beginning) because I knew I would be writing about them shortly. Needless to say I’m excited just by the genre the Black Pumas wikipedia page describes them as (Psychedelic soul, R&B, soul) as well as the sweet album artwork for the album.
The album starts with “Black Moon Rising”, has a sweet rhythm to it. Honestly the first impression is it sort of reminds me of Proxima Parada a bit. The chops of the guitar really gives you something to get lost in as the rest of the track’s instrumentation, including the silky voice of the singer, really carries you further from land into some exploratory territory. Wow that keys comes in so hot and goes almost just as quickly but I’m trying to process what just happened, because it was awesome.
“Colors”, the song Michael Palmisano reacted to is up next. Wow, that intro is awesome with that acoustic-y sounding guitar in the back sort of lifting the track up, and you add in that organ and gospel background voicing and you’re left with a whole lotta soul packed into a song with so many flavors to it. That light tapping of the piano off to the side while the bass and guitar are just ripping is insane, and the keyboard little solo break is right. I might be mixing some of these instruments up; they’re playing with the tone so well it’s hard to figure out which instrument I’m trying to follow at the time but I don’t really care when the music keeps sweeping me away.
“Know You Better” starts out with a great little shuffle-sounding beat. My favorite part is the beautiful simplicity of the staccato guitar – it really gives you something beautiful to listen in on while the rest of the music envelops you until you’re ensnared completely in the soul of the song. I just noticed this band was nominated for best new artist in 2019 at the Grammys, and they absolutely deserved it. The keys just dance on their way out of the track and its really sick to listen to. “Fire” has almost a desperado sort of vibe to it, and the keyboard and guitar have this absolutely awesome back and forth going between the two with the vocals and rhythm of the song driving the whole thing forward in between the two. This group is playing so hot with “Fire” and they sound so cool, soulful, and relaxed while doing it. The song really builds on itself so well and is really cruising as it comes to a gentle closing.
“OCT 33” starts with a southwestern/latin sort of acoustic guitar out of the right speaker, and it builds tension wonderfully until the rest of the instruments gently come in to relieve it with some simplicity. I really dig the different layers and silky smooth textures you can hear in the tune. I think perhaps my favorite part is the guitar staccato with a sweet bongo drum playing right next to it in the soundscape, until that electric guitar solo comes in, that is, holy mole. There are so many layers to this stuff; I keep getting more impressed.
“Stay Gold” comes on hot with a slowly swirling organ type sound, and the rest of the instrumentation sort of keeps that sort of swirling sound going as it sounds like they’re trying to get the listener in a twirl at this point, which happens super easily for me as I’m getting lost in the layers. The singer has an excellent voice, with a timbre that’s smooth and soft like silk that really gets me carried away as the song swells and he hits higher and more sustained notes.
“Old Man” has some absolutely awesome guitar in the intro – almost Jerry Garcia-esque to me, though a little more relaxed in a certain way. I’m really in a twirl now as I try to focus on just one instrument and I overhear the interplay between that instrument and the rest. The outro guitar part sounds so delicately played too – really sweet to hear.
“Confines” is almost orchestral at times with the swelling of the music, only to break to a simple bit of guitar staccato and the voice of the singer, only to continue building and perform the cycle once again. Really a spectacular song that I keep getting lost in as it sounds like there’s almost a violin or other bow/string instrument adding to it all.
“Touch The Sky” is almost a bit bluesy with the acoustic guitar intro, that gets a little more intricate as it plays along with the slick bass behind the scenes. The horn section really adds a great element to this whole album, and makes it like a work of art in a certain sense. Listening to this song makes me want to grab my guitar and play along. Wow, that solo has a great fuzz to it that adds some texture to the whole album. I don’t know what the heck is going on with the soundscape at this point in the song either, but it’s absolutely awesome. It ends on a sort of desperado sort of vibe too, something this album hits on a lot.
The final track, “Sweet Conversations”, starts with some beautiful acoustic work, and the track has a certain echo-y sort of thing going on with the rhythm section. There’s a certain rolling to the drums – it’s honestly like a creek out in the forest. In fact, I think I hear the tweeting of some birds in the background. Truly, a beautiful song and a beautiful ending to a simply stunning album. This was a great album to listen to. Very much looking forward to what these guys put out in the (hopefully near) future.
-A