Over the past few months I’ve written a bit about Black Pumas, an acclaimed Austin, TX-based soul act, comprised of Grammy-winning producer and guitarist Adrian Quesada,  27-year-old singer/songwriter Eric Burton and a cast of collaborators. The act can trace its origins to when Burton, a street performer, who busked his way from Los Angeles to Austin, where he met Quesada. 

Building upon the rapidly growing buzz surrounding them, the Austin-based soul act released their self-titled debut earlier this year. And as you may recall, album single “Colors” is ad decidedly old-school singer/songwriter soul-inspire track centered around an anachronistic arrangement and production featuring a looping 12 bar blues guitar, twinkling Rhodes, some gospel-tinged backing vocals and the superstar of the show — Burton’s soulful vocals and incredible vocal range, as his vocal delivery in “Colors” evoke hurt, yearning, pride and awe simultaneously. The act recently spoke to the folks at The Fader by email, explaining that “‘Colors’ was written while the sun was going down on a rooftop in New Mexico. Finding inspiration in the multicolored hues of the night sky. The song is a message of togetherness, but there’s awareness of mortality mixed in . . .” 

The band has been relentlessly touring over the past months and recently, they had an opportunity to spend a few days in Austin’s legendary Arlyn Studio, where they decided to run through a handful of songs that have become fine-tuned as a result of being on the road for the past few months. Amos David McKay shot the live session with a noir-ish sensibility, and during that session they performed a jam-like and sprawling rendition of “Colors” that retains the song’s soulfulness and message, while being an accurate representation of their live sound.