The Suffers Make Some Room [Review][Amazon][iTunes][Google Play]
With people quick to declare the premature death of R&B, we’re glad that groups like The Suffers are here to carry the torch for the genre. Their 2015 EP Make Some Room found the 10-piece band putting down some of the most soulful music heard this side of Stax Records’ 1960s heyday. The EP is only four tracks long, but each track counts thanks to evocative performances by the band’s lead singer Kam Franklin and the band itself, which surrounds the singer with strident grooves, beautiful melodies and a horn section that won’t quit and can’t possibly lose.
Each track is magical within itself, but if you’re looking for standouts, look no further than the title track, which finds Kam evoking a young Gladys Knight over a soundbed that would make Holland-Dozier-Holland a bit jealous, or the soft and tender “Stay,” in which she summons a Kelis-like rasp to deliver a sincere plea for a lover to stay as the group injects a tiny bit of lovers rock into the proceedings to make things even more interesting.
If you happened to miss this one, make sure you make some room for it before they drop their self-titled full-length debut this February. -- D-Money
