Guys, I think this album might have a story to tell??

October 4th, 2024, marked the debut of Thee Sacred Souls’ sophomore album: Got a Story to Tell. The Retro-Soul group from San Diego has continued to pioneer an emerging blend of 60’s/70’s Soul and R&B. Their previous 2022 self-titled album, Thee Sacred Souls, helped bring retro soul to mainstream audiences with tracks like “Weak for Your Love” and “Can I Call You Rose.”

Thee Sacred Souls courtesy of Spotify.

Got a Story to Tell’s first track introduces a so-called “Lucid Girl” who seems to be the subject of the rest of the album. In the next four songs of the LP, the story bounces back and forth between a man reciting the efforts he’d go to win the lucid girl’s affection (“Price I’ll Pay,” “Waiting on the Right Time“), and songs about self-love and taking life as it is (“Live for You,” “On My Mind“). The album reaches its climax on the sixth track: “Losing Side of Love” and sets the tone for the remainder of the record. As listeners, we witness a series of melancholic melodies that feel as though they were pulled from a time capsule. The album does on a more positive with “I’m So Glad I Found You, Baby.” This appreciative ode to a woman who forever changed a man’s life offers closure to the sorrowful soul tracks that proceed it.

In The Mirror

Perhaps my favorite track from Got a Story to Tell is the tenth track: “In The Mirror.” This soulful ballad captures the shameful essence of a man seeing the monster on the other side of the mirror. Showered in the shame of doing his woman wrong, he acknowledges that she should let him go. However, this heavy guilt cannot suppress him from begging her to stay.

Somebody Knew

In “Somebody Knew,” Sacred Souls frontman, Josh Lane, recites a story of a man who lost his lover because of his pursuit for something new. The man laments losing his lover to someone he hardly knew. The finale of the song culminates in a shower of vocals and instrumentals reminiscent of a Smokey Robinson record.

Track Ratings:

1. Lucid Girl…………………………………………………………………… 10
2. Price I’ll Pay………………………………………………………………. 8
3. Live For You………………………………………………………………. 7.5
4. On My Mind……………………………………………………………… 8
5. Waiting on the Right Time……………………………………… 9
6. Losing Side of Love………………………………………………….. 6.5
7. Somebody Knew………………………………………………………. 9.5
8. My Heart is Drowning……………………………………………… 7
9. Stuck in the Mud………………………………………………………. 7
10. In the Mirror………………………………………………………………. 10
11. One and the Same……………………………………………………. 7.5
12. I’m So Glad I Found You, Bany……………………………….. 7

Overall Rating: 8