The Altons – Heartache in Room 14 Review

A decade since they formed and The Altons, by the sounds of it, has learned everything there is to know about soul. Plenty of heart is on display through their second album, Heartache in Room 14. They feed a niche which The Lemon Twigs are maintaining elsewhere, adapting the style and sound of a decades-old genre, long dormant, into the modern world. This is trickier than just straight replication, and the beauty of Heartache in Room 14 comes from the incredibly difficult blend of modern tones and classic flourishes. Warmth from the very first moments of Waiting consider this. The trick for The Altons is not in reinventing the wheel but polishing it, maintaining soul as a genre which can stand tall in the modern world. With their guidance, it more than makes a show, it holds tremendous depth.  

No artist can mimic a heartfelt tone. Either they mean it and you can hear their dedication, or they do not, and you can poke holes in their tone. With The Altons, their commitment to experiences where love prevails in the moment, but not in the aftermath, is clear. Tangled Up in You is a reverse of the usual loved-up soul-filled grooves, instead turning attention to the lover trying to lose another. These are the sweet reinventions Heartache in Room 14 depends on and builds from so frequently. Beautiful occasions of heartfelt intent, of sincerity when there is such high demand for idealism. A slowed collection of soul songs where love does not blow up or define an individual, but slips away in humane and realistic forms, is such a wonderful break from the expected rebellion. What benefits Heartache in Room 14 beyond its brilliant vocal work and slick instrumental purpose is the lived-in experience and the genuine nature of its songs. Every one a standout moment, a break from the lucid and often faux expressions heard in pop.  

Take a song like I Try I Try, where dedication is not enough to save a relationship. Latin twists offer a new layer, too, for those soul fundamentals. Perdóname hears a vocal dedication from both Adriana Flores and Brian Ponce, the romantic subtleties of all their songs building from those suave sounds. Tremendously consistent work can be heard on Heartache in Room 14, but this does not come from familiar instrumentals or consistency. The Altons are frequently taking risks, constantly pushing a new development to their sound, a new angle on tones with decades of history. Those Latin additions, heard on the gentle brilliance of Del Cielo Te Cuido, are a hearty, consistent feature of Heartache in Room 14.  

Most of Heartache in Room 14 is played out with the confident tones of an infatuated individual who finds themselves in the right. Even when the situation has them firmly in the losing camp, they are adamant about their position. It makes all the difference, the soul tool used not as a longing embrace for a lost lover but as an act of defiance. Hearing this develop throughout Heartache in Room 14 is staggering. There is very little, if any, doubt over how strong a band The Altons is. Their grasp of the genre, their route to modernising it with some swell flourishes and dedications to tones of old, are the fine blur a genre needs. New life through a rarely trodden path brings us to cool grooves from the likes of Your Light and Show Your Love, end-of-album songs which cement The Altons as a fresh blast of soul.