=SIMO’s new studio album ‘Rise & Shine’ will be out on 15 September 2017 on Provogue. On “Rise & Shine” SIMO widens their sound and is filled with slow-smoked soul ballads, psychedelic desert-rock instrumentals, hard-edged, bluesy barn burners and Stax-worthy funk rockers. “Rise & Shine” began taking shape on the road, where SIMO’s three bandmates — singer, guitarist and namesake frontman JD Simo; drummer Adam Abrashoff; and bassist Elad Shapiro — spent most of 2016 on tour.

They played 215 shows that year, leaving behind their Nashville headquarters and traveling to nine different countries in support of their Billboard Top 10 blues album, Let Love Show the Way. Rise & Shine’s expanded sound, which blurs the lines between genres and generations throughout the album’s 11 tracks. SIMO’s previous release, “Let Love Show the Way”, was a spot-on salute to the band’s rock & roll influences, full of big amplifiers, vintage vibe, and plenty of volume. Rise & Shine doesn’t ignore those roots, but it pushes toward something new. Eager to explore uncharted territory, the guys make room for slow-smoked soul ballads (“I Want Love”); psychedelic desert-rock instrumentals (“The Climb”); hard-edged, bluesy barn burners (“Light the Candle”); and Stax-worthy funk rockers (“Meditation”). Gluing everything together is the charisma and chemistry of three musicians who spent more than 300 days together last year, mastering the art not only of nodding to the past, but looking ahead to the future too. “If you go through my record collection and look at the more contemporary titles,” JD explains, “you’ll see the Roots, Wilco, Alabama Shakes, and Ryan Adams. I listen to a lot of old soul music, too. Isaac Hayes. Funkadelic. Bob Dylan. On Rise & Shine, I was just trying to cull from the vastness that is my normal music diet, and not trying to pander to some target that was easy to hit.” Impassioned vocals that call to mind Prince or Al Green. Rhythm tracks inspired by the fatback swagger of Isaac Hayes and funky spirit of D’Angelo. Lush, highly detailed sonic landscapes reminiscent of Pink Floyd.

Raw, naked song writing that lifts the veil for the listener to see all the frailty and ugly parts as well as the beautiful. Rise & Shine makes room for it all, with SIMO looking not to recreate old sounds, but invent new ones. It’s the band’s most expansive album to date — the work of a band at its curious, adventurous peak.