Recorded straight to tape in a small studio in Athens, Alabama before they became a household name, Boys & Girls is steeped in the fuzz and feel of Southern soul, garage rock, and classic R&B. When the album dropped in 2012 it certainly was the beneficiary of the retro-soul revival wave that was taking place in popular music at the time. But what really set the band apart was Brittany Howard’s spectacularly raw and emotive vocal performance. There’s a righteous fury in the way she sings, like someone exorcising heartbreak on a church pulpit, confessions turned into audible catharsis. The Credence Clearwater-esque “Hold On” became the breakout song that launched them into stardom, but deep cuts like “Be Mine” and “You Ain’t Alone” thrum with a haunted kind of intimacy that is felt as much as they are heard. In a landscape saturated with polished indie and overly synthetic pop, Boys & Girls still stands out over a decade after its release as a very “human” record that doesn’t just nod to the past but lives in it long enough to be baptized in analog warmth.
Standout Songs: “Hold On”, “Be Mine”, “Hang Loose”, “You Ain’t Alone”
