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Instant Vintage: Thee Sacred Souls

Three men from San Diego making soul records that sound like they were pressed in 1968 and left in a warehouse. Thirteen tracks, and not one of them is a pastiche.

Thee Sacred Souls and the sweet soul revival

Thee Sacred Souls — singer Josh Lane, bassist Sal Samano and drummer Alex Garcia — came out of San Diego and were signed to Penrose Records, the Daptone Records imprint run by producer Bosco Mann (Gabriel Roth) specifically for this kind of music.

The Daptone method matters here. The label records to analogue tape in a converted house in Brooklyn, using period equipment and live-in-the-room takes, and it built its reputation with Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley. Penrose focuses on a narrower tradition: sweet soul and the lowrider oldies canon that has been beloved in Mexican-American communities in Southern California for half a century — slow, tender, harmony-led ballads, the music of a Sunday afternoon and a slow drive.

That context is the key to the band. They are not doing a retro bit; they are working inside a living regional tradition that never went away.

What to listen for

"Can I Call You Rose?" is the song that broke them, and it is close to perfect — a two-chord vamp, a lyric of complete simplicity, and Josh Lane singing with a lightness that never tips into imitation.

"Weak for Your Love" and "Easier Said Than Done" are the other essentials. "Love Comes Easy" and "Future Lover" show the rhythm section's discipline — the tempo sits right on the edge of dragging, which is exactly where this music lives.

"Sorrow For Tomorrow" and "Trade of Hearts" are the ones to play late. "Lady Love" closes.

Listen to the drums throughout: no cymbal wash, heavy on the rim, the whole kit mixed as one instrument rather than separated. That is a deliberate 1960s recording decision, and it is why these records feel warm rather than clean.

Go deeper

The Penrose Records catalogue is small and uniformly excellent — Los Yesterdays, Thee Lakesiders and the label's compilations are the obvious next stops.

The Daptone catalogue proper is deeper: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and Charles Bradley's No Time for Dreaming are the two records that made the modern soul revival credible.

For the source material, look for lowrider oldies compilations and the catalogues of Brenton Wood, The Delfonics and Sunny & The Sunliners. That is the tradition these three grew up inside.

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