Ears Wide Open: B00TY

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B00TY (Photo by Sadé Clacken Joseph)
B00TY (Photo by Sadé Clacken Joseph)

First, you need to get past the name Edan Freiberger and Adam Epelbaum chose for their pop-soul explorations: B00TY. Make sure to type zeros where the o’s should be when you Google, and stop thinking to yourself, “All that money on a UCLA education and that’s the best they could do?” Then have a listen to B00TY’s new single “Holy,” their fourth and the latest from the Miami-based 10K Islands label as part of their Friday singles club.

Unlike much of today’s electronic soul (and some of B00TY’s previous work), it’s not too spit-polished. Piano, electric strings and a gentle bed of synth augment Epelbaum’s straight-outta-the’70s falsetto. The song came together last summer at a writing camp at 10K Islands’ headquarters in Miami, with Brain Robertson producing, Rhea Dummett (who sang on Pharrell Williams’ “Happy”) providing vocals and Connor Irias adding synth. Dummett and Irias (a drummer and the band’s co-producer) are part of B00TY’s live lineup along with guitarist Nick Setter, bassist/horn player Jesse McGinty and singers Dummett and Sadé Clacken Joseph. “I will never do you wrong,” the gang wails on the bridge, and here the ghosts of vintage soul music might agree.

||| Stream: “Holy” and “Carry the Load”