Maps app on the dash, bags in the back, diggin’ the scene with a Soul Town gleam—that was us last week, heading to and from the Big City on what was most likely the penultimate warm day of 2026. The SiriusXM channel, which plays a heady (if, at times, repetitive) assortment of classic R&B and soul, cascaded from the speakers during the long drive, with Curtis, Marvin, Gladys, Otis, and Aretha spicing the soundtrack. Also in the mix: Smokey and the Miracles, Diana and the Supremes, the Delfonics, Chi-Lites, Stylistics, and Five Stairsteps, not to mention William C. DeVaughn and “Be Thankful for What You Got”: “Diamond in the back, sunroof top/Diggin the scene/With a gangsta lean, wooh-ooh-ooh….”
Summer’s last gasp exhaled into autumn by Saturday; daytime highs in the 60s and low 70s (Fahrenheit, obviously) and nighttime temps in the 40s are forecast for the next long stretch. That rainy morning found us in the car by 9ish for a shorter trip, this time with the new Ella Thompson album as our companion of the road. The 10 track, 31-minute set, a direct-to-tape affair, is a thick stew of old-school R&B laid down over four days at an all-analog studio in rural Victoria, Australia, with overdubs (vocals and horns, primarily) recorded at Sound Park in the Northcote neighborhood of Melbourne. Leave aside the music for a moment: the result sports a warmth that’s missing from most modern recordings. It sounds vintage.
As for the music? It’s infectious from start to finish. It’s gritty, Memphis-styled R&B blended with the smooth soul stylings of Chicago and Philadelphia, while Thompson’s emotive vocals bend from frothy and sweet to guttural and deep. About the only thing missing is the staticky crackle of old vinyl. On first listen last week, as with Thompson’s previous outing, Triumph & Sadness conjured Duffy’s Rockferry set—high praise, I hasten to add. The main difference is that the retro vibe here leans more towards sweaty R&B than the glistening Dusty variant. And when Ella goes high, as she does in “My Weakness,” and the horns chime in, well, wow.
In the sonic sense, listeners with a discerning ear are sure to hear both oblique and obvious references to the soul greats of yesteryear. DeVaughn’s chunky rhythm, for instance, surfaces more than once, while the Stax, Motown, and the Philly sound echo large. (The Bandcamp liner notes, it should be mentioned, cite Australian soul singer Renée Geyer, Nina Simone and Curtis Mayfield as inspirations.) Lyrically speaking, the songs mostly delve into matters of the heart—love, loss, and the many gradients in-between. “Promises to Keep” speaks to bridging a developing distance with another. “Parable” finds her embracing romanticism: “I’ll be the fool that believes/Love will triumph.” One of my (early) favorites, “Make You Believe,” seeks to reverse course in a faltering relationship; it may well contain my favorite reference of the year: “Driving my car listening to Mary Oliver/And I hold on to the wheel/Imagining I am the waterfall.” (It’s one thing to name-check a poet, another to name-check a poem.)
The songs that follow continue in the same vein, weaving the oblique with the obvious into a colorful quilt. “Time, It Won’t Forget,” “Beloved,” and “Change of Heart”—soulful tours de force all. “Dandelion,” released as a single a while back, explores the doubts that sometimes come with love. “Lovers Game (In Love Again)” channels the Miracles. The album closes with “When I Fall,” which trips over love, doubt, and moving on: “What has been before/May have left the score/Too long I’ve been in the dark.”
In short, Triumph & Sadness—which is available on LP, CD, and high-octane (24-bit, 96 kHz) downloads—is sure to appeal to any- and everyone who grooves to the retro soul and R&B of Jalen Ngonda, M.T. Jones, the Stone Foundation, Thee Sacred Souls, and Durand Jones & the Indications.
