Jéroboam – Jéroboam
It’s as if you’re transported back to the early 80s with lots of thick boogie, soul and funk sounds. With crisp production, ultra cool vocal arrangements and vital original compositions, the 11-piece Jéroboam from Paris just released their debut LP on Favorite Recordings. Starting out with the boogie funk of “Sweet Addiction”, the tune sounds like a modern-day Con Funk Shun anthem. “Feeling Something”, a two-stepper with a brilliant midtempo groove and sexy vocals, also works pretty well with its glorious horn parts. Lead singer Wolfgang Valbrun is front and center on the quirky, fast-paced Ohio Players meets Lakeside-style “Say Yeah” which beams with intrinsic time signatures and Cameo-style group vocals. The track could have been culled from the 1980 “Cameosis” LP.
The smooth and elegant boogie stepper “Sleepless Night” adds to the excitement here. Wolfgang sounds incredibly dreamy and persuasive at the same time. The track glides along breezily until the invitation to dance gets a little bit rougher. We get more of those 80s boogie funk sounds on the infectious “Unstoppable”. “Surrender” is another uber cool midtempo swayer right out of the boogie legend’s Howard Johnson songbook. Jéroboam have actually collaborated with both Howard and Junior Giscombe in the past years. The tune is sharp and on point, with 80s-style keyboards, handclaps and soothing group vocals. A classy treatment! “Light Up” leans more toward a rockier sound. The bass line on this particular track is awesome. This highly recommended debut, another welcome add to the wonderful Favorite Recordings roster, ends on a nonchalant note with “The Game”.
Jéroboam will play the New Morning in Paris on June 18th. You can get the album right now through the group’s bandcamp page.
