St. Paul & The Broken Bones - Angels In Science Fiction (LP) - Clear Transparent Vinyl

Angels In Science Fiction finds St. Paul & The Broken Bones taking a breath and letting the quiet in. Out in April 2023 on ATO Records, it arrives soon after the restless, nocturnal sprawl of The Alien Coast, but the mood here is different. Paul Janeway wrote these songs as letters to his newborn daughter, and you can hear that sense of scale shift. The band from Birmingham, Alabama still leans into Southern soul, yet the edges soften, the horns give space, and Janeway sings like he is making promises he intends to keep.

What hits first is how intimate it feels. The arrangements pull back, giving his voice a cushion of warm keys, brushed drums and strings that feel hand placed. Janeway has always been a belter, the sort who can light up a festival tent by sheer force, but restraint suits him. When he leans into a line with just a touch of grit, it lands harder than any showy run. There are moments that feel like old Hi Records singles drifting out of a café radio, the tempo unhurried, the groove steady, the sentiment plainspoken.

Working with producer Matt Ross-Spang, a Memphis studio lifer who knows how to keep a band sounding human, the group steers clear of gloss. You hear players in a room listening to each other. Guitars tuck in behind organ, the rhythm section lopes rather than stomps, and the horn lines act like punctuation, not exclamation marks. It is the sort of production that rewards a long sit with a decent turntable, because the air around the instruments matters. If you are hunting for Angels In Science Fiction vinyl, you will get what you came for. The dynamics breathe, and those little textures that can vanish on a phone speaker come alive.

Lyrically, Janeway wears fatherhood without syrup. The songs ring with advice, doubt, hope and a few hard reckonings. He writes in short, sturdy phrases, almost like notes slipped into a lunchbox. He is not trying to reinvent soul music here. He is speaking plainly, and that honesty is the point. When the band locks into a slow burn and he tells his kid to be kind, to be brave, to pay attention, it feels less like nostalgia and more like a hand on the shoulder.

There are standouts that fans will circle. Sea Star drifts on a gentle tide, all shimmer and ache, a lullaby that resists the easy sugar hit. City Federal Building nods to Birmingham with a skyline view and a heartbeat bassline, as if the band is walking you down a familiar street at dusk. The sequencing has a steady flow that encourages a full album listen. Let it run and the emotional arc makes sense, rising from quiet awe to something close to resolve.

If you have followed the group since Half the City, the growth is clear. The swagger and showmanship remain, but the bravado has melted into craft. More space, more care with tone and phrasing, and a willingness to trust small gestures. You can draw lines to Al Green, to the deep catalogue of Southern soul, yet the writing is modern enough to avoid museum vibes. It sounds like St. Paul & The Broken Bones growing into a new chapter rather than dressing up in vintage clothes.

For those crate diggers who haunt a Melbourne record store on a Saturday, this is one to flip to the front of the bin. St. Paul & The Broken Bones vinyl tends to move quickly because the band’s sound makes sense on wax, and this album proves it again. If you like to buy St. Paul & The Broken Bones records online, keep an eye on limited variants, but even a standard black pressing will do the trick. It sits nicely alongside other St. Paul & The Broken Bones albums on vinyl, from the punch of Sea of Noise to the more experimental turns on The Alien Coast. And if you are building out a soul section among your vinyl records Australia wide, this is a tasteful, replayable anchor.

Angels In Science Fiction is not flashy, and that is its strength. It sounds like a band choosing purpose over spectacle, trimming away what they do not need, then letting a great singer carry words that matter to him. In a catalogue already stacked with big moments, this might be their most human one.