In today’s stressful delta-variant-controlled times, we can’t afford to indulge in sleepy bands and COVID-bedroom-projects. Arquesta del SolSoul is a musical group with the big energy we need to keep it together.

They closed out the matinee (and vaccine-required) show at the Replay on Friday with horns, slam poetry, and Alveolar trills that seemed to last forever. The group plucked jazz musicians Chalis O’Neal (trumpet) and Brad Williams (percussion) out of the Kansas City landscape, and stuck Jessica Ayala, Hadiza, and Les Izmore on the mic to sound all the alarms (they were down a member, Jade Green, on this night). The Afro-Latin-percussion-heavy-fusion songs were heavy on lyrics (think Saul Williams) over a manner of percussion-driven attacks. Guitars rarely made an appearance. Arquesta del SolSoul covered all of it– politics, identity… and they got the crowd particularly worked up when they chanted “Shut those camps down! Fuck ICE! Fuck ICE!”

To keep tabs on their upcoming shows, you can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and their website.