If you had tuned into my webradio show last Friday, you already know the Soul Movement’s song See Me. That song was a good example of the band’s sound and music.
Soul Movement was formed in April 2004 in Worcester, MA. The band members are Sunta Africa (lead vocals), Afro-DZ-ak (trumpet, keys, MC), Sarah G (flute, guitar, vocals), Luke Bass (bass), and DJ Shame (beat). And they have an inspiring organic and soulful live sound which at times reminds me of Fertile Ground, Doug and Jean Carn, or Oneness Of Ju Ju.
The album kicks off with the programmatic Soul Movement, a warm groove with fine flute play by Sarah G and an introduction by Afro-DZ-ak telling us what we will get from the Soul Movement. And what we get are deep soulful grooves like Suga, lovely sung by Sunta or Flutterby, a flute dominated instrumental. And it’s Sunta’s voice that together with the handmade sound of the band evokes memories of soul music’s halcyon days in the 70s. Just take the spiritual sounding Ocean for example or the afore-mentioned See Me. There’s also food for thought here with Sunta lamenting over people who keep trying to change her although she knows very well she wants to stay the way she is (Get Out Of My Way) or the story of Ten Long Years.
There are more good songs on offer like the funky Get Away or the laid-back encouraging You Can Make It. There really isn’t a bad song here and the only point of criticism is maybe that the album is a little bit short with only fourty minutes playing time. But on the other hand all our favourite albums from the 70s were hardly any longer.
To sum it up this is a very good debut album and Soul Movement are a band to watch out for.

Tracklisting of Get Away: 1. Soul Movement/ 2. Suga/ 3. Flutterby/ 4. Get Out of My Way/ 5. Get Away/ 6. Ten Long Years/ 7. You Can Make It/ 8. Ocean/ 9. See Me/ 10. Murder Mystery | released 2005 Soul Movement

For more infos visit soulmovementmusic.com and cdbaby.com.

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