This column is a partnership with Record Bar 45 Yokohama, a bona-fide record bar with excellent vinyl DJs and a supporter of NPO Yokohama Seasider. Here, we check out their Instagram (@recordbar45yokohama) to see what they’ve been playing, then write about one of the artists and/or albums—we’re DJs/musicians ourselves!
“New oldies” is a simple way to describe the sound of Durand Jones & The Indications. The group takes you back to the 1950s, 60s, and 70s with soulful R&B like that of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, and Marvin Gaye. Having released their eponymous debut album in America less than a decade ago, they are a part of the “retro soul” movement of recent years which seeks to recreate the vintage sounds of those eras. This isn’t contemporary reinterpretation of hits or shoddy imitation—they sound as if they came through a time warp. Flowers, their June 2025 release and fourth album, is a listening experience so smooth you could call it sonic velvet.
The songwriting trio of Durand Jones (vocals), Aaron Frazer (vocals/drums), and Blake Rhein (guitar) formed in 2012, soon adding help on keyboards and bass–roles handled today by Steve Okonski and Michael Montgomery. The potential for complexity and ambition exists, but Flowers showcases the band in an easy classic style of soul. Songs like “Lovers’ Holiday” and “Flower Moon” almost feel like guilty pleasures in their picture-perfect presentation. There’s little embellishment to the album’s songs. While the band avoids risk, they play so carefree you may find yourself swaying and smiling the entire album.
The album runs 40:25 with eleven songs (including a short intro). It’s largely slow tempo, easy listening though a couple songs offer a little more pep. What will you sip with it?
For those interested in hearing the fuller range of their sound (and more tempo), their previous album, Private Space (2021), is more a celebration of soul and disco. It performed relatively well on U.S. music charts and is still praised by critics.