The sound renders their genre exercises pleasant, but their genre exercises are also really good songs. Simply listening to this sound is a pleasurable experience, sort of like staring at a Fania album cover, never mind what’s inside. The instruments and voices seem to interact within physical space all these weird little snarls and exclamations of “huh!” lurk in the background. This was a nostalgic move and you’re right to be wary, but their engineering choices serve their songs in ways that a flatter digital sound wouldn’t.
It sounds like an old record because they recorded it on old equipment, eight track tape according to leader Pierre Chrétien, they “also decided to do the whole thing in mono” presumably he means recorded and mixed. A loud and deliberate walking bass plays counterpoint with staccato horn tuttis that feel stuck between your teeth. The first thing you notice about their fifth album Solidarity is its sound: warm and dark, musty and fusty.
They’re based in Ottawa, though Brooklyn would probably give them tax breaks and a ticker tape parade if they decided to immigrate. Not to be confused with the disco-era Salsoul Orchestra, the Souljazz Orchestra is one of those horny dance bands that are springing up around the world, paying tribute to crate-dug genres like salsa, reggae, and Afrobeat by replicating them faithfully or mixing them all together.
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