Durand Jones & the Indications bring new, disco-inflected album to Lawrenceville concert
Share this post:
Durand Jones & the Indications just keep getting smoother.
The R&B group recently released its third album, “Private Space,” which takes its gritty soul sound and sands down the edges until it becomes something more akin the disco-inflected sound of late ’70s Curtis Mayfield.
“One of the biggest things I’ve learned is production and what it takes to produce something that’s high quality and very nice,” said lead singer Durand Jones.
The group, formed while several members were in college at Indiana University (Bloomington, Ind.), will perform a Sept. 5 show at Spirit in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood.
Drummer Aaron Frazer said the new album’s title reflects its sound as well as the feeling band members had being cooped up in their own “Private Space” during the covid-19 pandemic.
“That title track was written pre-pandemic, but after the year we had, it became clear that it kind of encompassed everything that was on the record,” Frazer said. “There are these feelings of claustrophobia, but also, the song itself is very sensual, intimate and dance-floor ready. It captures the duality that’s on the record and the duality of what a lot of us experienced over the past year.”
Guitarist Blake Rhein said tunes like “Reach Out” and “Ride or Die” are some of his favorites on the new record.
“We wrote those almost completely in the studio,” he said. “We thought, ‘Let’s do a song like this,’ and just fleshed it out. It’s cool to work like that, and to see people respond to those songs.”
For Frazer, the lifting key change in “More Than Ever” is one of his favorite moments on “Private Space.”
“We’ve never written a song with a key change,” Frazer said. “It’s such a triumphant vocal moment. I love hearing Durand open up. After the first record, we kind of found ourselves in a sub-genre that includes a lot of soft vocals. But I know he loves to let it rip, so to hear him do his thing in that moment — as a listener, I’m just like, ‘Yes, get it!’ ”
Echoes of the pulsing feel of Curtis Mayfield’s “Superfly”-era work can be heard in the title track, and the shouted chorus and background conversation on the lead single, “Witchoo,” calls to mind similar aural stylings by Marvin Gaye on soul classics like “Got to Give It Up” and “What’s Going On.”
“We were just trying to create this party ambience vibe and sound, and that was really cool to do,” Jones said.
Durand Jones & the Indications will be at Spirit on Sept. 5 with opener Danielle Ponder. Tickets are $25 and are available at Ticketmaster.com.