Alabama Shakes’ sci-fi soul sound,Alabama Shakes’ sci-fi soul sound

Retro? Revivalist? Not Alabama Shakes.

On their superb 2012 debut, Boys and Girls, the quartet from Athens, Alabama, stripped down vintage soul and rebuilt it in their own image, to paraphraseThe West critic Ray Purvis.

Released today, follow-up Sound and Color stretches soul in a million directions at once, splattering the template with splashes of garage, funk, psychedelia and even world music.

However, when Brittany Howard takes the call to discuss Alabama Shakes’ all-shook-up sound, the powerhouse singer is travelling in a thoroughly old-school mode not best suited for apt metaphors.

“I’m in a horse and buggy going around Memphis,” she cackles. “I’m doing these interviews and I wanted to treat myself.”

Howard and the other Shakes were in the home of legendary soul label Stax, in addition to tacky tourist horserides, to launch Sound and Color. They had already played two sold-out shows at New York City’s famed Beacon Theatre.

“The crowds were amazing and we played our new record in its entirety,” the charismatic Howard says. “They responded to it incredibly. I don’t think I could have asked for a better show.”

Alabama Shakes play this month’s mammoth Coachella Festival in California, where their “confident” and “powerful” set on the first weekend made them a clear highlight, according to US Billboard magazine.

The band — which also swung through Australia for the Byron Bay Bluesfest and a Sydney headline show during this crazily busy month — recorded the new album in another famed music city, Nashville, where they also recorded Boys and Girls.

After laying down the debut in the poky Bomb Shelter studio, this time the foursome worked with producer Blake Mills in the luxurious Sound Emporium Studios.

“Bomb Shelter was great for where we were at the time,” Howard says. “It was perfect. I don’t think we would’ve known how to behave in a really nice studio.”

Alabama Shakes needed bigger digs to squeeze in the expanded sound — as well as drummer Steve Johnson’s growing drum collection acquired between albums.

Howard, who also bought new instruments (including the vibraphone which features on the opening title track), says the group had no grand scheme when they entered Sound Emporium.

“I really didn’t know what was going to happen,” she says. “I think that’s why I’m in the line of business that I’m in. I like things to be mysterious and I like to not know what’s going to happen.”

The Alabama Shakes story seems wonderfully unexpected.

Howard met fellow outsider, bearded bassist Zac Cockrell, at East Limestone High School before recruiting Johnson, who worked at a local record store.

Guitarist Heath Fogg asked to join the younger trio after they supported his cover band at a local gig.

Boys and Girls was akin to an apprenticeship, according to Howard, albeit one that thrust them among the hottest new acts on the planet.

After singing “Bless my heart, bless my soul/Didn’t think I’d make it to 22 years old” on 2012 hit Hold On, Howard says Sound and Color represents the “self- taught” band four years older and much better at their jobs.

“We’re more grown-up and we have a better understanding of dynamics, fluidity and kind of basic principles of music,” the 26-year-old says.

“It took some time, but I’d say this record is a tapestry of us being better musicians.”

Howard is also more at ease with the demands of being in a successful touring band, including those make-or-break TV performances.

“This time around, I’m not as nervous,” she says. “I’m more focused on technique. I’m at a different level . . . I think, as a band, we’re more confident.”

Despite having a ball visiting favourite touring destinations, including South America and Australia, the quirky frontwoman felt the need to retreat.

“I moved to the woods about two years ago,” Howard says of her home on the outskirts of Athens. “I thought that I wanted to be a recluse.

“The problem was I’m bored in the woods and then I go to the city and it’s like ‘This is overwhelming, I’m going back to the woods’.”

That duality inspired Shoegaze, a southern rock tune among the gems on Sound and Color.

Howard says the expanded sound on the new album, which US music magazine Relix accurately dubbed “down-home, sci-fi soul”, continues the evolution of the four disparate members.

“It’s like being in a family,” she says. “Everybody grows and everybody gets interested in different things but there’s always the roots of the family there.

“Those roots are those soul elements. That’s what we bonded on right away when we first met each other.

“That will always be there,” Howard adds, “but it’s OK to grow and to expand your mind and to get better.”

Sound and Color '''''' is out now.