The mix of Beatles rock ’n’ roll and Otis Redding soul captured on Leon Bridges & Khruangbin’s “Texas Sun” melts your troubles and transports you to an era that hipster-nostalgia tells us was so much better.
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Stream: “Texas Sun” – Khruangbin, Leon Bridges
You’re coming home from another shitty day at work, willing your beat-up Sedan to last one more trip home. It’s cold, grey, and a little foggy. You fumble with the radio dial, trying to find anything that’ll take you out of this moment. Finally you find it: The magnetic “Texas Sun” by Khruangbin and Leon Bridges.
Suddenly you’re roaring down the freeway, hair back, roof down and cares left far behind you. The radio seems to be getting louder and louder with every mile — soon it’s all encompassing, vibrating the car and stirring your soul. The mix of Beatles-rock’n’roll and Otis Redding soul captured on“Texas Sun” melts troubles and transports us to an era that hipster-nostalgia tells us was so much better. While that feels like a stretch, “Texas Sun” could convince me as we sail lyrically from city to city.
Caressing you from Fort Worth to Amarillo
Come on, roll with me ’til the sun dips low
That Texas sun
That Texas sun, oh girl
That Texas sun
One look at the single’s artwork shows us what this Texas supergroup is going for; it’s got the hippy colours combined with that sixties’ aesthetic of hard lines and surrealist feeling. In a word, it’s groovy. Bridges — the 21st Century Sam Cooke — is best known for his heart-on-sleeve soul and smooth-as-butter vocals. Khruangbin however, have been bouncing around the Texas underground scene creating 60s-Thai-influenced sounds and Middle Eastern inspired beats with seamless ease.
While the biggest star power may be Bridges, Khruangbin aren’t just a backing band. Rather, they’re uptempo, heavily reverbed sound allows Bridges to mellow out even more, making the song glide effortlessly along freshly paved sonic roads.
When I’m far from home and them cold winds blow
Stuck out somewhere with folks I don’t know
‘Cause you keep me nice and you keep me warm
Wanna feel you on me,
can’t wait to get back there again
That Texas sun
“Texas Sun” is a love song to Khruangbin, Leon Bridges’ home state — complete with a play on words between “sun” and “son” — that sees them rolling from hometown to hometown.
This only adds to the laidback nature of the song, with the journey pacing towards its destination with little urgency. Most Bridges fans are used to him bringing the intensity to the song while the smooth soul flows behind him, but with Khruangbin at the wheel Bridges is safe to croon carefree.
This makes the song’s climax all the more mighty.
Bridges roars, Khruangbin swells, and the wind rips through your hair even quicker as you travel underneath the blazing heat of The Lonestar State.
You say you like the wind
blowing through your hair
Well, come on, roll with me
’til the sun goes down
That Texas sun
That Texas sun
Ooh baby, you’re so gorgeous
How about you and me take a lil’ trip
In the big body?
Take a ride with me, babe
You by my side
How does it sound?
You and I
Oh, girl
Supergroups live and die by their members ability to work together. As long as Bridges and Khruangbin can step outside their comfort zones and compliment each other’s strength like they do on “Texas Sun”, then all of our commutes home are going to be a hell of a lot better.
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:: stream/purchase “Texas Sun” here ::
Stream: “Texas Sun” – Khruangbin, Leon Bridges
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