It’s a May afternoon, just a couple of hours since the flower moon’s peak illumination. Durand Jones & The Indications — the progressive soul band consisting of Durand Jones, Aaron Frazer and Blake Rhein — are all present on our video call, checking in from New Orleans (Jones), Los Angeles (Frazer) and Chicago (Rhein).
Our conversation about their new album, Flowers — released June 27 via Dead Oceans — begins with each member sharing their favorite flower, a nod to the project’s title and May’s full moon. Jones buzzes in first. “My favorite flower would be the okra flower,” he shares. “It means a lot to me with the history of how the okra seed was brought to America from the transatlantic slave trade, how resilient that plant is, and how the flower is so damn beautiful. They only bloom for a day or two, so you can miss that beauty if you don’t pay attention to it. In some ways, I feel like that’s me.”
Frazer, born and raised in Baltimore, chooses the official flower of his home state: the black-eyed Susan. “I love the juxtaposition between the black and the yellow,” he explains. Rhein opts for the dandelion, which he believes “are kind of slept on.” He adds, “They are really beautiful.”
While each flower is unique, all three find common ground in their vibrant yellow hue. In some ways, it’s similar to the band itself — three walks of life whose roots trace back to the campus of Indiana University Bloomington, where they formed in 2012. The trio met as part of the Indiana University Soul Revue, a collegiate ensemble focused on studying and performing Black popular music.
Durand Jones & The Indications laid the groundwork with their self-titled debut album, released in 2016. The LP was recorded on a shoestring budget of $452.11 — this includes the cost of a case of beer — in a “dingy Indiana basement.” The gritty soul project drew comparisons to greats like Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, with its mix of tender and socially conscious songs, such as “Is It Any Wonder?” and “Make a Change.”
Their 2019 sophomore album, American Love Call, traded the grit for more lush instrumentation and dreamy harmonies without compromising the rawness that defined their early sound. With 2021’s Private Space, the group upped the ante with slick dance floor-fillers like “Witchoo” and “The Way That I Do.” While the pop-leaning album was a departure from The Indications’ ‘60s-tinged soul jams, “there’s a lot of the band’s original DNA,” as Rhein shared in a past statement.
If you go back and listen to each Durand Jones & The Indications album from start to finish, you’ll likely notice the natural progression in their evolution. Each project is another layer to their artistry, but it never feels like an attempt to abandon their roots. Flowers, their fourth studio album, is their most realized body of work to date.
“It took making three records as a band, and making music on our own to clarify our voices,” explains Frazer, who released his second solo album, Into The Blue, in summer 2024 — a record adrift in the wreckage of heartbreak. The band started planting the seeds for Flowers around December 2023, several months after Jones released his debut solo album, Wait Til I Get Over — a tribute to his hometown Hillaryville, Louisana.
Flowers cruises like a lowrider through a lush botanical garden. The era-launching “Been So Long” captures the heartwarming feeling of reuniting with longtime friends back home, the place where evergreen memories remain fertilized with nostalgia.
“That one has always felt like an appropriate first statement, not just because of the lyrical content that says it’s joyful to return to the nest where you came from — and some things change, some things stay the same — but also from a musical standpoint,” says Frazer. “It’s sweet, simple and singable.”
Scenic tracks like the sun-drenched “Paradise” and the rose-scented “Lovers Holiday” highlight the escapism that love can evoke, though the former comes with a caveat. On “Flower Moon,” which buzzes with regal horns and feathered drum taps, Frazer’s honey-coated vocals take the lead as a blossoming love sweeps him away. Just as relationships can bloom, they can also wither, as foreshadowed with the early track “Paradise.”
The mournful “Rust and Steel,” an immediate standout, hears Jones bidding an aching farewell to a now-ex partner. “In my mind you’ll always stay / But now we take our separate ways,” he croons on the somber tune, where he’s joined by a supportive choir consisting of Crofton Coleman, Ashley Otis, Alysha Monique, Adryon de León and Kim Dawson.
It wouldn’t be a Durand Jones & The Indications album without a civic-minded anthem. “I Need The Answer” poses a series of questions about the way of the world: the cost of conflict, the blight of greed and the void of empathy.
For the poignant finale “Without You,” Jones belts with deep-toned sorrow as he pleads for reconciliation. Frazer’s petal-soft falsetto echoes Jones’ sentiments in the chorus: “I don’t think that I could live without you / I could build my whole wide world around you.”
Below, Durand Jones & The Indications talk more about Flowers, unpack tracks from the album and unveil what’s ahead.
Since your new album is titled Flowers, I’d like to begin by asking everyone their favorite flower.
DURAND JONES: The okra flower. It means a lot to me with the history of how the okra seed was brought to America from the transatlantic slave trade, how resilient that plant is, and how the flower is so damn beautiful. They only bloom for a day or two, so you can miss that beauty if you don’t pay attention to it. In some ways, I feel like that’s me.
AARON FRAZER: The black-eyed Susan. I love the juxtaposition between the black and the yellow.
BLAKE RHEIN: Dandelions are kind of slept on. They are really beautiful.
Durand, Flowers follows your solo debut album, Wait Til I Get Over, and Aaron, your second solo album, Into The Blue. Both are deeply personal works. Was it intentional for you guys to dive into those deeper components of your personal lives before regrouping for this album?
AARON FRAZER: I don’t know if it was so explicitly about doing personal work necessarily, but I do feel like I wrote the album that I needed to hear. In doing that, you wind up with deeply personal work. I think it’s easier to, once you’ve experienced that vulnerability, take it back to the group setting and bring more of yourself to the project.
Was there anything that you guys learned about yourselves while making those solo works that you carried into Flowers?
DURAND JONES: Absolutely. I really feel the sentiments Aaron was speaking about with his solo record. I wanted to put something out that could reflect myself and show who I truly am. I didn’t realize how much that was going to force me to reflect within myself and grow. When I got back with The Indications, I had this mission that when I’m putting the pen to the paper, I wanted to reflect me personally in a way that I’ve never had before with The Indications. I wanted to share all the joy, the heartache, and everything in between.
What does the title Flowers represent for each of you?
BLAKE RHEIN: A sense of naturalness, but also a sense of rebirth.
DURAND JONES: I feel like it’s a reflection of maturity, growth, and wisdom gained. There are some things that you can’t learn; you just have to live through. This record captures all of that for me.
AARON FRAZER: For me, the intention going into it was like, “What if we made an album that just prioritized having the most fun we could?” Flowers are beautiful on their own, but when you gather them together, they take on their own unique beauty. This album is a gift to ourselves and to each other.
Blake, you mentioned Flowers brings you this sense of naturalness. Is there a song on the album that you feel came together the most naturally?
BLAKE RHEIN: A lot of the songs on the album, honestly. There weren’t many that felt really that difficult. Part of the intention of the record was to access the most authentic and shared creative vision. We weren’t trying to do something that felt unnatural, so there weren’t many instances on the record where we felt blocked. I think that comes from years of working together and experimenting with different workflows.
Sonically, each of your albums thus far is distinct. They don’t necessarily sound like each other. Is that at the top of your mind when constructing a body of work?
AARON FRAZER: Yeah, I think that’s true. We are such eclectic listeners, so it’s going to be natural that as our listening changes and evolves, that’s going to come out creatively. I think on this record, more than anything else, we sound like ourselves. And it took making three records as a band, and making music on our own, in order to clarify our voices.
Let’s get into some of the songs on the album. What inspired the socially driven “I Need The Answer”?
DURAND JONES: I love that one so much. It’s one of my favorites on the album. That was one of the first tunes we churned out. What I love about that tune is our approach to it. It is a social consciousness political tune, but instead of preaching to the other side, it’s more like, “Sit down with me and let’s have a talk. I have some things I need you to hear. Maybe we can agree to disagree, or maybe we can find a middle ground.”
AARON FRAZER: I think so often about how infrequently people change their minds about anything. We’re in a political moment where we are, especially with the internet, speaking into an echo chamber. I think curiosity is missing from a lot of conversations — a genuine questioning of, “Where are you coming from?” When you go into a conversation with curiosity by asking questions, you can get farther into a level of understanding with somebody who comes from a different place. On this song, you hear that most of the lyrics are themselves questions.
Do you feel artistically responsible for making socially driven songs, especially since your past albums often opened with them?
DURAND JONES: It’s super important. With Private Space, we felt like, “OK, the first two [albums] started with political songs. Let’s start Private Space with ‘Love Will Work It Out.’” We didn’t necessarily feel like we had to continue that cycle with Flowers, but it felt all the same. It’s important to reflect the times that we’re in. What I love about our approach this time is that in the past, it had been a little more preachy; this one feels more conversational. It feels more like we are trying to find this connection of humanity. No matter what, soul music will always have this political social consciousness to it, and we will always embrace it.
“Rust and Steel” is an instant standout. The emotion is so raw and the vocal performance is stirring. What inspired that one?
AARON FRAZER: That’s definitely one of my favorites on the record. I like that there is a nice mix of big, soaring arrangements that are beautifully recorded, with pretty dirty-sounding drums. That one is a bit of a wink because of the mellow drama that the song is about — your car that’s broken down. And in these moments, they give you a chance to reflect on your life. For that song, it’s like your car breaking down and then looking at your life at large, feeling like it’s that car on the side of the road. It’s basically a heartbreak song about a car.
DURAND JONES: To me, “Rust and Steel” is a eulogy in a sense, almost like a funeral song. You have the choir going and you’re saying goodbyes to something that meant a lot to you, but is no longer. That song has that sentiment of “ashes to ashes, dust to dust, let it rust.” There is this sense of, “I’m giving you your flowers one last time before I say goodbye.”
“Paradise” feels so good until you realize what the lyrics are about. What was your intention with this record?
AARON FRAZER: We were listening to a lot of Sade. I think what inspired that song was the feeling of when you get together romantically with somebody that, on paper, feels like should be a perfect match. There’s nothing necessarily wrong with what they’re doing, but on some level, it’s not the right match. It’s the emotional stress and spiraling that comes with it. You’re like, “This person is so perfect, they’re beautiful, their personality is great, they’re kind. Why is there no spark here?” It’s that juxtaposition of a good partner, but the guilt that comes with not feeling that spark. I hope it’s something people can relate to. It’s something I’ve experienced.
Was there anything from this album or process that stood out to you or felt special?
DURAND JONES: The writing sessions. I’ve learned so much from Blake and Aaron. When I moved to Indiana, I had no intention of being a songwriter or a singer. I never thought about producing or what it takes to be a producer. Over the years, I began to learn and learn. I felt like, “OK, I learned a lot. Now it’s time to make a solo record to see if I can do it.” When I got back with The Indications, the most special moment was that I really felt like a producer on this one. That was the first time that I ever got to do something like that with The Indications. I know I could not have gotten this far if it weren’t for the knowledge that Blake and Aaron instilled in me and their encouragement for me to make my own art. Coming back to The Indications, I felt comfortable enough to really own the producer role. I’m thankful I have colleagues who allow me the grace to do so. I don’t take it for granted.
BLAKE RHEIN: We started this album in December 2023 and wrote throughout the spring. Sitting back and listening as the songs come out, I’m like, “Wow, this does create this feeling of spring turning into summer.” I think that’s really cool because when we were writing the album, that wasn’t necessarily an intention — to create this springtime, summer thing. It kind of happened. As it gets towards the end of the record, there are these hints of autumn. When I think of “Rust and Steel,” I picture the color rust, and that feels like late summer, early autumn. I think that’s a cool place where we’ve landed as a band — to have almost accidental artistic intentions behind something. That’s something I feel really proud of in this record. There’s a bigger picture that happened unbeknownst to us.
AARON FRAZER: I think focusing on each other’s joy and on each other’s positive experience with the album process creates the final product you hear. It feels more inward gazing, perhaps, than other records. But I think a lot of times, the conversations about politics and the world way too quickly get into the largest scale and the longest lens. I think we missed that making the world a better place starts right there in your own life, in your own immediate relationships, and in your own community. So, this record just focuses on ourselves, making that soil healthy right there in your own garden. That will blossom upward and outward.
Besides your tour this fall, what else do you guys have going on that you can talk about?
DURAND JONES: I specifically moved back to New Orleans to do my next solo project. The first one was me longing for home, being afar, recalling the stories from the ancestors. Now I’m back in the soil. It’s been really exciting to actually be in New Orleans because I’m starting to hear and see where the inspiration for the next one will be. Other than that, I’ve just been living my best life.
BLAKE RHEIN: I started releasing a few songs under a moniker called Patchwork Inc. this year. One of the singers is Wyatt Waddell, who sang background on a few songs on the album. And then the other gentleman that joined us in the “Been So Long” video is Michael Damani — an incredible guitar player and singer. I’m going to release a couple of songs with him later this year. It’s been really fun to find some really amazing voices in Chicago and be more involved with my community there.
AARON FRAZER: I’m really enjoying writing for other artists right now. I’m always a collaborative person, so I’ve been writing for a couple of different artists in a couple of different genres that I don’t always get to apply my creative ear and mind to. That’s been really fun.
Stream Durand Jones & The Indications’ new albumFlowersor get it here. See their tour dates at durandjonesandtheindications.com.