The Sextones

After summers spent packing showrooms across Europe and the U.S., bringing their mix of meticulous songcraft and electrifying stage presence to the forefront of the soul scene, The Sextones are back. The intrepid soul crusaders from Nevada’s high desert have emerged from both a period of pandemic introspection and a years-long writing and recording process guided by virtuoso producer Kelly Finnigan (Monophonics) with their latest offering: Love Can’t Be Borrowed.

Sophisticated, suave, and masterfully composed, the album is a sonic love letter to late 60s and early 70s soul, nodding to the giants of the genre and bowing to its unsung heroes. Drawing from their upbringings steeped in the sound, frontman and guitarist Mark Sexton and bassist Alexander Korostinsky knew they wanted an album to highlight their old-school bona fides while leaving room for innovation. They found that balance in marathon recording sessions at Finnigan’s Transistor Sound studio in San Rafael, California. Over the course of two years, the producer helped them break down their slate of songs to the bare essentials and add a new layer of sonic maturity.

“The ability to be vulnerable when writing your music is an important ingredient for any record,” Korostinsky said. “You can tell when an artist is being genuine and for a long time, we felt a little insincere with what we were doing. After working with Kelly, we started noticing that the music we were all making now was truly and finally ourselves.”

With inspiration from artists like The Moments, Baby Huey, The Delfonics, and especially the late Curtis Mayfield, the album is drenched in the era-defining tone that can only come from its origins on analog tape. From the first notes of the opening track “Daydreaming,” the songs shimmer and glow from one moment to the next like a summer’s drive with the windows down, with steady cruise anthems like “Beck & Call” floating by like a cool breeze. Love Can’t Be Borrowed is captained by Sexton’s smooth falsetto and bolstered by lush guitar work, crunchy drum breaks, and molten basslines that seep into every crack. Beyond the rhythm section, we find a delicate universe of orchestral strings, punchy horns, vibraphones, and reverb-drenched background vocals—reveling in the hallmarks of the genre as only true acolytes can.

“I feel like this record is going to speak to people who understand it, and that's who we're making it for,” Sexton said. “I think it’s going to touch a lot of people emotionally. And, selfishly, we’re making it for ourselves because we just love this kind of music.”

With an authentic sound and historical appreciation, The Sextones’ new album sounds like opening a time capsule from the golden era of American soul, assuring crate-diggers and casual fans alike that the legacy of the genre’s past 50 years is in capable hands.