Last summer eight piece Gulf Coat soul band The Suffers released their third studio album It Starts With Love. The album tackles issues of racism, misogyny, and the music industry, while at the same time chronicling growth, evolution, and self-acceptance. Written in the midst of a tumultuous stretch that saw the Gulf Coast Soul powerhouse reinvent itself personally and professionally, the record is a fierce, defiant ode to resilience and commitment, to the passion and drive that brought them together in the first place.
Led by frontwoman Kam Franklin’s powerhouse vocals, The Suffers radiate their roots’ marinated influences in the most passionately direct musical realms. If there is any modern band that deserves an annual invite to New Orleans Jazz Fest; The Suffers, bring it fierce every night, day and morning they take the stage.
Glide is premiering The Suffers’ new single “Gwan (Cumbia Mix),” (below) which is slated to appear on the deluxe edition of their critically acclaimed 2022 album It Starts With Love. The deluxe edition is out June 2nd via Missing Piece Records, almost exactly one year after the original’s release. A fan favorite from the Gulf Coast Soul band’s 2016 debut full-length, this new cumbia version of “Gwan” features an infectious, Latin-inspired rhythm and boasts plenty of reasons why The Suffers should remain a pick-me-up fixture on most any playlist.
“‘Gwan’ is a classic lust song about safe sex, and the joy that comes with practicing it,” shares frontwoman Kam Franklin. “It originally appeared on our debut EP, Make Some Room, in 2015, and we played it on our national television debut on The Late Show with David Letterman. The song appeared in an episode of Mr. Robot, and we even busted it out as the closer for our NPR Tiny Desk performance. Cumbia music has played just as big a part in our band’s foundation as soul music. All of us grew up listening to it, dancing to it at parties, and playing it in various bands before finding ourselves in The Suffers. Recording a Cumbia version of ‘Gwan’ felt like a natural contribution to our endless tribute to the city of Houston, and this version shows a different part of our rhythmic heartbeat as a music collective,” says Franklin.
Photo by Agave Bloom Photography
