Alabama Shakes

Sound & Color (ATO)

Fake Dad gets the Shakes: Latinx, L.A.-based bedroom pop duo Fake Dad told us about their collective love for an Alabama Shakes gem.



Fake Dad: Fake Dad’s absolute favorite album is Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes. The genre-agnostic project draws from nearly every long-standing iteration of rock and roll and R&B—equally drawing from the likes of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Erykah Badu, Prince, and The Strokes. While all music is in the context of the time it’s made, Sound & Color feels somehow unmoored from that—a project that, in its arrangement, production, and vocal delivery, feels like it belongs both in the near future and the distant past. in the years since it came out,  it has remained inexplicably timeless, and its title track “Sound & Color,” is just as singular in its beauty and emotive power. When we sit down to work, we strive to make something that so beautifully synthesizes ourselves and our influences into one new thing the way that this project does.

When Alabama Shakes front person, Brittany Howard sat down to write the songs that make up the album, she is said to have been holed up in her basement subsisting on granola bars for 12 hours at a time. There’s this burningly raw palpability to each track that manages to capture the essence of humanity and creativity. For example, throughout the record when you hear a section that sounds like strings, it’s often actually furnace vibrations or other odd, found acoustic sounds. Alabama Shakes’ Sound & Color makes me feel simultaneously grounded to the earth and lifted way up into the ether. What more can you really want from a record? Also, it doesn’t hurt that Brittany Howard’s voice sounds like a god. I think she has one of the best voices in all modern rock/indie music.

Fake Dad gets the Shakes: Fake Dad's Yerba Mala EP is out now.



Editor's note: The disclaimer below refers to advertising posts and does not apply to this or any other editorial stories. LA Weekly editorial does not and will not sell content.