Sound & Color

Against a woozy vibraphone melody, Brittany Howard sings, “A new world hangs outside the window/Beautiful and strange” on opener “Sound & Color”. It’s a mission statement for a record that distorts the soulful southern-rock template of debut Boys & Girls with intoxicating shades of oddness. By dabbling in spooky psychedelics (“Gemini”), head-spinning garage-rock (“The Greatest”) and nocturnal R&B (“Over My Head”), the quartet alchemise their retro roots into invigoratingly fresh sounds.