SONS Records

[Elfael]

If you heard the night of Soul at SONS Records with DJ Jordan Wilson a week back you probably caught a snatch of their new release from Jayne Taylor (check it out on their Facebook page if you haven't). There's a strong soul vibe at SONS (The Soul of North Staffordshire) with a house band of top notch musicians on all their tracks and the recordings are all old school with 2-inch tape, lots of valves and classic gear. 

College Days Over starts with a conventional  chord sequence in G that lulls the listener into a false sense of security. A dramatic key change from the tonic to mediant minor produces a sense of uncertainty echoing the fragility of the lyrics. Exotic and complex harmonies in the brass section keep the ear interested. It sounds to me like the brass have some tasty suspended and major 7th chords but unusually with the trombone playing the 7th in the bass. As we reach the end the tempo is freed from the beat and we now realise that the transition was actually to the flattened supertonic as the song finally resolves in Ab.