Monophonics - Playin & Simple (2007)

The Bay Area's Monophonics contemporize the heavier and more psychedelic sounds of late-'60s and early-'70s soul and rock while also drawing from other facets of R&B and jazz from the same era. Active since the mid-2000s, they debuted with Playin & Simple (2007) and cut a follow-up before they were joined by Kelly Finnigan. The singer/songwriter, arranger/producer, and keyboardist has guided the band through four studio albums into the 2020s. The LPs range from In Your Brain (2012), one of their toughest and funkiest recordings, to Sage Motel (2022), a loosely conceptual set evoking a sincere Blaxploitation soundtrack. A single with Kendra Morris, "Untitled Visions," appeared in 2023.
Formed in San Francisco by members of three bands including the Monophonic Orchestra, Monophonics took shape in 2005. Their original and subsequent lineups have included saxophonist Alex Baky, drummer Austin Bohlman, keyboardist Colin Brown, guitarist Ian McDonald, percussionist Kyle Middlebrooks, trumpeter Ryan Scott, and bassists Yuri Whitman and Myles O'Mahony. The most significant change to the membership was made with the addition of Kelly Finnigan, who joined after the first two albums, 2007's Playin & Simple and 2010's Into the Infrasounds, and became the band's driving force.
Augmented by Finnigan, Monophonics signed to Ubiquity for 2012's simultaneously dazed and heated In Your Brain, containing "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" and "Foolish Love," both of which surpassed a million streams. They then went independent with Sound of Sinning, issued in 2015 on Transistor Sound, named after their studio in the Bay. The band's fourth album added influences such as the Zombies and Pink Floyd (pre-Dark Side of the Moon) without forsaking their adoration of Norman Whitfield's spaciest Motown productions and vocal groups such as the Delfonics.
Following a handful of singles for Transistor Sound and Colemine, Monophonics recorded their fifth album, It's Only Us, and released it on the latter label in 2020. They stretched out on the LP's "Last One Standing," a seven-minute message of perseverance, and it paid off by becoming the group's most popular song, subsequently edited for a 7" release. The cinematic, Curtis Mayfield-inspired touch of "Last One Standing" carried into the making of the next Monophonics full-length, based on a fictitious, storied inn dating back to the 1940s. The result, Sage Motel, arrived in 2022. The band collaborated with Kendra Morris for the 2023 track "Untitled Visions."