Love Turns You Upside Down

Edwin Moses' Love Turns You Upside Down is probably the best retro-soul album by a Spanish band you are ever liable to hear. The group take as their template the lush orchestral soul of Superfly-era Curtis Mayfield, with a little of the folk-soul of Terry Callier thrown in. The strings soar, the horns dip and swoon, the bass bubbles along, and the whole thing goes down like a spoonful of honey. Pablo R.A.'s indie-soul vocals are heavily accented and sometimes clunky, but that only adds to the otherworldly feel of the album. Especially when he breaks into a Kurt Wagner-style falsetto. The songs are, of course, not up to Mayfield's standards, but there are some gems to be found, like the sweet "Streams of Love and Hate," the pastoral "Falling for You," and the light as air title track "Love Turns You Upside Down." Kurt Wagner's attempts at soul stylings with Lambchop are a fine reference point, as are the latter-day Tindersticks' albums. Like those bands, Edwin Moses escape the tag of copyists by the sheer amount of effort they put into concocting their sound, and by their knack for writing melodies that linger. Love Turns You Upside Down is a weird, obscure treasure that is worth tracking down.