An historic breeding ground for many of music’s pioneering genres such as blues and jazz, St. Louis represents a musical hub that deserves mention along with New York, New Orleans, Memphis, San Francisco and Philadelphia. The Gateway city serves as a melting pot of many black music genres. It is troubling, however, that the city’s more well-known new artists who come to mind are Nelly & The St. Lunatics, Chingy and Huey. To say that this is an unbalanced representation of the city’s cultural capital is an understatement. Coultrain’s The Adventures of Seymour Liberty is a welcome addition to the cadre of new artists that have emerged from “The Lou”. Here is a true representation of the brand of soul by which the city has historically been characterized.
Seymour Liberty is not the typical R&B/Soul offering as it gives the listener multiple looks and feels that meld into one of the most refreshing male debuts since D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar. Libertydoes not fall victim to the trite neo-soul formula despite what some might consider familiar aesthetics. Coultrain is able to offer the listener spacey and experimental vocal and musical arrangements that sit alongside more acoustic and organic ones.
The production and arrangements on “Swimmin’ In The Stars” and “Who R U?” are more consistent with the futuristic and experimental nu-dub of Steve Spacek than anything Eric Roberson has done recently. Conversely, the easy jazz swing of “Lilac Tree” or the bass-driven handclap groove of “Playin’ Catch Up” leans more towards what traditional neo-soul lovers might be familiar.
The album is at its strongest when Coultrain is able to fuse both the futuristic and familiar. “Green”, for instance, successfully pairs a moving bassline and rhythm guitar with some colorful synthesizer washes that make the track an album standout. The album is at its weakest when Train overextends himself with the genre-fusing. “Mt. Zion” is well-intentioned with self-affirmative and social lyrics but its roots-reggae bounce make it stick out a bit on an album that is characterized by a more domestic groove.
The story of this album is the production, the likes of which was done by Kenautis Smith. It straddles the line between traditional and experimental and is so varied and layered that it is difficult to tell which instruments are live and which are sampled. However, the production definitely does not overshadow Coultrain’s commendable vocal efforts. Often his vocals seep into Smith’s arrangements to make the song that much more enjoyable and lush, while on songs such as “Lost In Translation”, Coultrain is able to flip a respectable falsetto.
Aside from the production magic and the vocal consistency, Adventures is just a fun and upbeat listen. There are no long and sappy ballads which are typical fare for singers these days. Yes, many of the tracks focus on relationship maneuvering but this is balanced by the latter part of the album which features tracks with multiple social messages of self-affirmation and redemption. Adventures is a must-have for any soul music lover in 2008. St. Louis is red hot.
