New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The Suffers have released the deluxe edition of their critically acclaimed 2022 album It Starts With Love via Missing Piece Records. Arriving almost exactly one year after the original's release, the new deluxe edition features two remixes and three newly recorded live performances, including the infectious "Be You (The Vapor Caves Remix)," which the Gulf Coast Soul Band has shared the official video for today. Across 20 tracks, It Starts With Love (Deluxe) takes listeners on an unforgettable journey of empowerment.
"We are big fans of The Vapor Caves from Austin, Texas," shares frontwoman Kam Franklin. "They specialize in a style of electro-funk and dance music that constantly inspires us to expand on our own sound. When we first heard their remix of 'Be You,' the entire band had smiles and or the stank faces you only get when a song is that good. Both The Suffers and The Vapor Caves are inspired by the sounds and percussive instruments heard in a lot of South America, so when you hear this remix, it's all about the layers of sound. The star instrument for all of us on this song is the cuica. It's a Brazilian drum that kind of sounds like a horn. The sound it makes adds a different level of intensity and rhythm to the song, and we think the impact will be felt most on the dance floor. 'Be You' is about celebrating what makes us all special as human beings: 'It don't cost a thing to be you so be you.'"
Along with "Be You (The Vapor Caves Remix)," The Suffers' deluxe edition of It Starts With Love features "You and I," a stirring ballad with an "eternally relevant message" (Houston Chronicle), and "Gwan (Cumbia Mix)," which Glide Magazine hailed as "vivacious."
Released last summer, The Suffers' critically acclaimed album It Starts With Love was featured by NPR
Music Critic Ann Powers on her Top Albums of 2022 year-end list and received widespread acclaim from NPR's All Things Considered, SPIN, Entertainment Tonight, Consequence, BrooklynVegan, NPR Music, The Bluegrass Situation and more. Rolling Stone included the band in their June Print issue, saying, "The first LP in four years from the
Houston collective led by singer-songwriter Kam
Franklin is a thrilling mix of textured R&B, soaring power ballads, and Gulf Coast funk." The album boasts highlights such as "Nunya," an empowering number on overcoming hardships; "Yada Yada," a playful country-blues track about the hypocrisy often found in the music industry; "How Do We Heal" (feat. Son
Little and Bryce The Third), a poignant question on enduring racial violence and trauma; and "Take Me To The Good Times," which was named one of the best songs of the week by Rolling Stone.
Houston Chronicle praised the band's infectious dancefloor number "Don't Bother Me," saying, "singer Kam
Franklin has never sounded better, and the song's percussive groove is a glorious throwback to '80s-era Miami Sound Machine. It's the perfect sound and lyric for this moment in time." To share insight into It Starts With Love,
Franklin sat down with Brené Brown during her Dare To Lead podcast for an inspiring conversation on leading creative teams and the power of perseverance.
Mixed by GRAMMY-winner Adrian Quesada (Black Pumas), who transferred all of the sessions to analog tape, and mastered by Chris Longwood (Khruangbin,
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic), It Starts With Love is an album for survivors, for the down and out, for the doubted and the written off, but it's delivered with the kind of faith and conviction that ultimately transcends pain and anger to instead land on something far more triumphant and spiritually rewarding.
Tour Dates:
6/4: Houston, TX -
Jazzy Sundays in the Park
6/24: Mount Solon, VA - Red Wing
Roots Music Festival
7/11-12: New York, NY - The Blue Note New York
7/13: Ardmore, PA - Ardmore
Music Hall
7/14: Westport, CT - The Levitt Pavilion for the Performing Arts
9/9: St. Louis, MO -
Music at the Intersection 2023
It Starts With Love (Deluxe) Tracklist:
1. Don't Bother Me
2. A Cha Cha (Heartfelt Truth)
3. Could This Be Love
4. Take Me To The Good Times
5. Busy (Interlude)
6. 808
7. Call Someone Else (feat. Sugar Joiko)
8. Yada Yada
9. Bitches Gotta Get Paid
10. Be You (feat. The Vapor Caves)
11. How Do We Heal (feat. Son
Little and Bryce The Third)
12. I'm Not Afraid
13. Nunya
14. You and I
15. Could This Be Love (Bounce Remix)
16. Be You (The Vapor Caves Remix)
17. Gwan (Cumbia Mix)
18. Nunya (Live From DC)
19. How Do We Heal (Live at Wonky Power)
20. Take Me To The Good Times (Live From DC)
