This weekend, our favorite contemporary purveyors of soul, Durand Jones & The Indications, kicked off their latest headlining tour in Harrisburg. And this Wednesday, September 8th, they will find themselves headlining our very own Union Transfer. After those dates wrap with two nights at the Hollywood Palladium on the 21st and 22nd, they will promptly jump on tour as support for psychedelic indie rockers My Morning Jacket.
Durand Jones & The Indications are touring in support of Private Space, their third LP, which dropped July 30th on Dead Oceans (home to our friends Bleached, Japanese Breakfast, Khruangbin, and Mitski). The album is the band’s most varied yet, sprinkling disco beats and strings into their signature blend of retro-soul and funk. The album’s first single, “Witchoo,” received praise from Billboard, who included it on “The 50 Best Songs of 2021 So Far” and Paste, who said, “‘Witchoo’ is a light-as-a-feather funk number powered by Mike Montgomery’s wiggly bassline, and Aaron Frazer and Durand Jones’ engaging high/low vocal harmonies, all imbued with a quiet, but unmistakable confidence.”
Private Spaces was conceived of in a cabin in upstate New York, after the Indiana band had been forced apart for the better part of a year. The album’s 10 tracks celebrate the things which get us through the kinds of both literal and existential turmoil we’ve been dealing with recently. “I feel we’ll be arriving into people’s lives as they’re exiting a really tough period,” says drummer/vocalist Aaron Frazer, while Jones says, “At the end of the day, I just want people to close their eyes and forget where they are. Just the way a Stevie Wonder album does for me.”
The album’s most recent single, “The Way That I Do,” dropped in July and has an accompanying video, directed by Weird Life and shot at Josephine’s Southern Cooking in Chicago, featuring Pete & Linda Frazier, the 2019 winners of the World’s Largest Steppers Contest in Chicago, which you can see above. In the band’s latest press release, Aaron Frazier presents the song as a rallying-cry to come back out and show some love for the music that moves you, for instance, at Union Transfer, this Wednesday, September 8th.
“Whether on tour or spinning records, over the years we realized how much we love making people dance. When the first notes hit or the needle drops and the whole crowd lights up, that’s a feeling we held onto all through 2020. And that’s what we’re bringing on ‘The Way That I Do.’ It’s a run-to-the-dancefloor song for that special person who gets you shook, makes you wanna do more and be your best self. But it’s also for everyone who’s missed just getting together and movin’ their ass! See y’all soon!”
