Eli ‘Paperboy’ & The True Loves latest release is further proof that Soul music is alive and kicking. Yes that’s right; ‘Roll With You’ is a Soul album with brass knobs on. Thanks a bunch Duffy. Don’t get me wrong, I like a bit of Soul just as much as the next man, but the thought of Soul’s second coming makes me anxious. To be fair to Reed, he knows his stuff; he grew up listening to his father’s extensive record collection, taught himself to play the guitar, piano and harmonica, and cut his teeth in the North Mississippi Delta before assembling the True Loves in 2004; and he’s good.

Backed by his True Loves, Reed stakes his brassy claim with ‘Stake Your Claim’, its big and more importantly authentic, staying one step ahead of X-Factor impersonation. On to a good thing, The True Loves apply their craft to the slow straight-talking ‘Am I Wasting My Time’, an impassioned plea that blurs into ‘It’s Easier’. There’s more to come; The Sam Cooke influenced ‘I’ll Roll With You’, Gospel soaked ‘Take My Love With You’, awkward lonely man sway of ‘She Walks’ and the broken moonlit certainty of ‘(Am I Just) Fooling Myself’ deal with those age old problems of love, loss, despair and destiny. Yes they’re good, really good, really, really good and really authentic; and that’s the problem, regardless of their merits the album is perhaps a touch cliché heavy.

There is another side to the Boston based 7-piece, it’s far funkier and allows Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed & The True Loves to shine. ‘The Satisfier’ screams Otis Redding while ‘I’m Gonna Getcha Back’ adopts a must have sun-drenched afro-bounce, before ‘(Doin’ The) Boom Boom’ concludes the album with all the freak-out abandon of a boogaloo strut. Reed’s vocal delivery is superb throughout, but it’s best when raw as are The True Loves, who, spoken in the words of a true soul brother “break it down” just where you expect and want it.

All round it’s a great album; you need Soul to play Soul and these boys have got it. But sometimes you can’t help but wonder if there’s such a thing, as too much Soul; maybe I just don’t have enough.