After a few too many misreadings of their band name as “Soul Sex Told,” Aughts-indebted Austin trio Souls Extolled opted for a semi-eponymous title for their fourth studio album.
soulsex, self-released on Jan. 2, plays like a genre-hopping black sheep in the indie rockers’ discography, traversing hardcore punk punches (“The Cut”), funk-fueled trances (“Triumphant Monsters”), and croon-led epics (“Fathers Before”) like an early Arctic Monkeys/the Strokes crossover – all while bandleader Zach Black sings his most personal lyrics to date.
The Honolulu-born musician began writing songs for soulsex in 2023, a year following the band’s sophomore effort MMXXII. He put the project on hold when his then-fiancée, at the time in remission from Stage 4 cervical cancer, entered the ICU with reemerging health issues. At the same time, Black, a locksmith by day, struggled to keep his business afloat.
“When I was writing and coming up with the ideas for these songs, I couldn’t imagine a future where I was going to have the money to record them,” the artist says. “It was heartbreaking for me.”
Creatively tapped, the group’s usual lyricist enlisted his bandmates, bassist JP Ortiz and drummer Joe Valadez, to help flesh out his unfinished songs when production resumed a few months later (Black’s now-wife is again in remission). soulsex emerges as Souls Extolled’s most collaborative project to date.
“I definitely feel like it leveled up my songwriting, just to have those inputs from the other guys helping drive all the ideas forward and evolve them,” Black says.
Following the recommendations of friends and fellow musicians Kenneth Frost (the Cuckoos) and Matt Gilmour, the threepiece sought out producer Chris “Frenchie” Smith to record the project. With over 200 producer credits under his belt from acts like Santana and Ringo Deathstarr, Smith rattled the trio’s previous indie rock flair into a textured medley of breakneck rhythms and layered reverb.
“We knew that we really wanted to make the record, but he had the foresight and the vision for what it was going to be and how it was going to sound,” Black says. “His recordings [have] an avant-garde texture to them … a sort of graininess and a grittiness.”
The instrumentalists recorded all seven songs in just five days at Smith’s studio, the Bubble. Black, describing himself as a vessel for the ideas of a higher power, describes an unconstrained approach to songwriting in which the band builds off of fragmented riffs and sees what sticks.
“If we’re doing it right, it just sounds like what it is: three guys expressing how they feel about the moment we’re in,” the singer explains. “I hope that it can be socially and politically relevant.”
“It’s not a record that you might [think] a bunch of hippies wrote … There’s definitely plenty of frustration.” – Souls Extolled’s Zach Black
The album’s second single, “Triumphant Monsters,” revs groove-driven chords and denounces evil authority figures – a fitting lyrical target given Trump’s recent inauguration. “It’s [about] the mixed feelings of things [not] going in the right direction and feeling somewhat powerless to do anything about it,” Black admits.
Over the course of 20 minutes, soulsex ponders spiritual struggle (“A Star Is Born”), generational trauma (“Fathers Before”), and phony social media presences (“Vanguard”). On vocals, Black jumps from abrasive, throaty jabs (“The Cut”) to airy, high-pitched peaks (“Triumphant Monsters”).
“These songs were coming from a mixture of being discontent with our society and with my place in it,” Black says. “It’s not a record that you might [think] a bunch of hippies wrote … There’s definitely plenty of frustration.”
Despite his admitted bitterness, the songwriter adds, “I have this enormous gratefulness, just for the fact that we made it through.”
That gratitude beams in the record’s electric finale, “GOLD,” which trades the band’s usual indie-punk irreverence for stadium rock earnestness. Black partially credits Stephen King’s 2022 dark fantasy bestseller Fairy Tale, which details a fictitious battle between good and evil, for inspiring the positive change in perspective.
Souls Extolled’s fans, who celebrated soulsex with an album release party at Hotel Vegas on Jan. 16, offer additional catharsis.
“We really try to make every show like a community event,” Black says. “At the end of the day, what really drives the band forward and what’s [behind] all that juice between the bass, drums, and guitar, is just a whole lot of love.”
This article appears in January 31 • 2025.