Belongs on a Place Called Earth

Album review

The 2022 eponymous Brownswood debut by Manchester's Secret Night Gang caught punters, critics, DJs, and even club promoters by surprise. It's a hybridized revival of England's criminally undercelebrated street soul era from the late 1980s and early '90s with a breezy, blissed-out brew of acid jazz, neo-soul, and contemporary jazz. Founded and led by the songwriting and production team of vocalist Kemani Anderson and arranger/multi-instrumentalist Callum Connell (they're lifelong friends who studied music together in high school), they put both emotion and discipline into crafting an infectiously beautiful, groove-laden set that affirms life and love in each track. Sophomore outing Belongs on a Place Called Earth offers an evolved sophistication in songwriting, arrangement, and production. In addition to the signature sound on their debut, elements of gospel, soul-jazz, and pop are added to the mix.
For starters, the sequencing on offer here is devastatingly effective: Each selection seamlessly transitions into its successor, melding tenets of style, dynamic, and texture. Opener "Respect Me" is something of an outlier. Its first half employs minor-key gospel harmony from a soaring vocal chorus, buoyed by cascading piano arpeggios, trumpet, and saxophone. During the latter half, they congeal around Anderson's rippling Stevie Wonder-esque vocal, a bumping funk bassline, P-Funk handclaps, and sweeping strings in addressing the social, political, and spiritual issues facing the world in 2023. "One and Only" joins woodwinds, reeds, and syncopated drumming. As the singers enter, layers of Afro-Latin percussion in contrasting tempos come in, with modal trombones and saxes augmented by a seductive, minor-key melody; they offer what amounts to a secular spiritual. "Never Ever" is a fine showcase for Anderson's wonderful evocative singing, the tune's slippery, summery dancefloor funk carries him above the mix and into the heart of the listener. Single "When Will the Sun Rise Again" is a striking example of the hybridized soul-jazz pouring out of England. The lithe, laid-back airy handclap and snare drum groove offer a floating backdrop as Anderson, evoking the spirit of Bobby Womack, proclaims the triumph of hope, love, and joy if we honestly address our problems with tolerance and vulnerability. While "Do for You" weds contemporary jazz, street soul, and revivalist Brit-funk, "Out of My Head" is a 21st century progressive soul masterpiece, and "Every Nation" joins Afrobeat, Latin funk, and contemporary R&B. Set closer "Things Will Work Out" commences as a futurist spiritual. Anderson's multi-layered chorus vocals offer prayer, polemic, and a plea to help address his shortcoming as a man in order to accept and hopefully transcend them. With organic percussion, brittle loops, funky flute, and rippling piano, one can hear what might have happened if Prince had worked with the young Earth Wind and Fire. In addition to the deft vocals and songwriting on Belongs on a Place Called Earth, Connell's imaginative charts are sophisticated but not bloated. Further, his use of overdubs, instrumentation, and textures, combined with its other abundant qualities, place Secret Night Gang, after only two albums, in a league of their own.

© Thom Jurek /TiVo