Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics Funk It All Up

Ruby Velle & the Soulphonics’ second album State of All Things officially arrives on April 27th. As fans in tune with its lead single “Broken Woman” might suspect, it flavors the expected Stax-era soul and R&B influences with a smattering of other time-tested influences. “Broken Woman” premiered recently via the Bluegrass Situation, teasing fans with something a little different from the songs on 2012’s It’s About Time.

“For this track and the concepts sparked from it, we wanted to take our fans and listeners through a sonic experience we’ve never done as a band – experimenting with heavy synth sounds and deep reggae influenced bass and vibe guitar,” Velle says in a press release. “At the time, the band was going in a new direction with that instrumentation, so it was a great opportunity for us to tell a different story lyrically as well. To even further open it up to unchartered territories, I co-wrote the song lyrics to ‘Broken Woman’ with my now husband, so this single really took some bravery to create from all sides!”

“Overwhelming” and other new album cuts further explore how the usual Soulphonics influences informed strands of 1970s dance music. But the band doesn’t fully abandon what worked in the past, with “State of All Things,” “I Tried” and a handful of other new songs rolling the clock back further to the swinging ’60s.

In all, the album represents the versatility and talent of one of the best live Atlanta acts for several years running. Release show is March 24 at Terminal West.