Tag: Single Review: Without You

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: The Sextones Share Strutting and Soulful “Without You”

Reno-based soul outfit The Sextones — Mark Sexton (vocals, guitar), Christopher Sexton (piano), Alexander Korostinsky (bass), and Daniel Weiss are childhood friends, and as a result their musical chemistry is effortless and forms the foundation of the band’s longevity and creative process.

Over the years, the band’s members have also been able to channel their creativity into other acclaimed projects — Sexton and Korostinsky collaborate together in the cinematic soul project Whatitdo Archive Group, which released their critically applauded full-length debut The Black Stone Affair through Italian purveyors of funk Record Kicks back in 2021. Weiss has played with soul jazz outfit Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio. These forays into other projects has not only allowed the members to flex their creative muscle individually but it has also strengthened their collective songwriting chops.

The Reno-based soul quartet signed to Record Kicks, who will release their forthcoming Kelly Finnigan-produced sophomore album Love Can’t Be Borrowed on September 29, 2023. The album reportedly is a new chapter in the band’s story and sees the band attempting to scale new heights and plumb deeper emotional depths. Drawing from their upbringing steeped in the classic soul sound, the band’s Mark Sexton and Alexander Korostinsky knew they wanted the album to highlight their old-school bonafides while leaving room for innovations. The pair and their bandmates found that balance during marathon recording sessions at Finnigan’s San Rafael, CA-based Transistor Sound Studio.

“Without You,” the second single off Love Can’t Be Borrowed is an uptempo, two-step inducing jam built around playful call-and-response vocals, twinkling keys, glistening xylophone, reverb-soaked funk guitar, and a locked-in, propulsive rhythm section paired with an incredibly catchy hook. The song sees the band deftly balancing old school attention to craft with earnest, lived in lyricism. But, at it’s core, “Without You” is a sweet, old-timey declaration of love, devotion and profound gratitude that’s a both contented sigh and an acknowledgment that love — much like anything in life — takes hard work.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Lou Nutting (guitar, harmonica, vocals) and Ben Brock Wilkes (drums, vocals), the up-and-coming Virginia-born, Brooklyn-based duo Winstons can actually trace their origins to when the duo met while working at Williamsburg hotspot Baby’s All Right. With the release of two EPs Turpentine and Black Dust back in 2015, the Brooklyn-based duo received attention for a soulful, garage, blues rock that owes an equal debt to The Black Keys, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and , complete with a visceral and forceful earnestness, and for making a point of recording live to tape with no touch-ups, no overdubs, no retakes; first thought, best thought. And as you’ll hear on the duo’s latest single “Without You,” off their forthcoming “Without You”/”Enough” 7 inch, the result is a song that possesses a forceful immediacy and heartache.