Orlando Soul-Psych-Funk Collective The Sh-Booms Return With First New Music Since 2019 New EP “This Is a Test…” Out Now

Orlando soul-rock powerhouse The Sh-Booms have officially released their new EP This Is a Test, available now on all digital platforms, with a limited-run 12” vinyl edition available at the band’s shows and online. The four-song collection marks The Sh-Booms’ first new recorded music since 2019 and finds the band pushing beyond their soul roots into bold new sonic territory.

Across its four tracks, This Is a Test expands the band’s sound into a widescreen blend of soul, post-punk, New Wave, psychedelia, and funk, while maintaining the communal, dancefloor-driven energy that has long defined their live performances. The EP captures the emotional tensions of modern life — love, survival, loss, and resilience — set against the backdrop of a constantly shifting urban landscape.

The title track sets the tone with cinematic ambition and cosmic storytelling.

“This Is a Test,” says bandleader and bassist Alfred Ruiz, “is a sci-fi vision of two astronauts on a collision course in the cosmic ocean. As they delve into the great unknown they enter euphoric intergalactic love — but a treacherous mission may lay waste to the path forward. This is a test… now hold your breath.”

Clocking in at over six and a half minutes, the song signals a bold creative shift, blending New Wave textures, post-punk lock-grooves, funk-driven vocoder passages, and space-rock builds that mirror the emotional push and pull of new love.

Elsewhere on the EP, “Sin & The City” dives into darker terrain, reflecting on the pressures and psychological toll of urban survival.

“Sin & The City is a chronicle of the struggles people face in the dark corridors of city life, captured in permanence of loss and envy,” Ruiz explains. “It is survival of the fittest, breaking the bones of the willing.”

The EP was produced by Grammy-nominated engineer Alan Armitage (Boyz II Men) at his Orlando studio The Snake Arcade, and mastered by Grammy Award-winner Emily Lazar (Beck, Vampire Weekend, Minus the Bear) at The Lodge Mastering in New York. The sessions embraced a loose, exploratory “Basement Tapes” spirit, allowing the band to layer classic soul foundations with experimental textures and arrangements.

This Is a Test EP Track Listing

Side A

Love of a Ghost (Shivvvers)
This Is a Test

Side B
3. Broken Open
4. Sin & The City (Heavy Weather)

About The Sh-Booms

Upon hearing The Sh-Booms, it becomes clear that their roots trace back to a time when live music centered on movement, connection, and communal release — long before phone screens dominated crowds and concerts became passive experiences.

“Unbeknownst to my grandparents,” Ruiz recalls, “my mom used to sneak off to record hops in downtown New Haven in the late ’50s and early ’60s. She even danced on Connecticut Bandstand with Bobby Darin.” Coming up through garage-punk scenes in the 2000s, Ruiz drew inspiration from that contrast, pushing The Sh-Booms toward a sound built around sweat, motion, and collective energy.

While many modern soul revivalists lean into nostalgia, The Sh-Booms collide vintage influences with the existential realities of contemporary life — confronting broken homes, strained relationships, economic survival, and the tension between romanticism and reality. That creative friction helped them stand out in Orlando’s diverse underground scene.

The band’s trajectory accelerated in 2015 with the arrival of powerhouse vocalist Brenda Radney, previously signed to Justin Timberlake’s Tennman Records. Her commanding stage presence and deeply expressive vocals helped propel The Sh-Booms into a new era, leading to festival appearances and shared stages with The Roots, Of Montreal, KRS-One, Jacuzzi Boys, and a mini-tour with The B-52’s.

After the disruption of touring in 2020, the band regrouped creatively with longtime collaborator Alan Armitage at his newly opened Snake Arcade studio. The result is This Is a Test — a project that reflects both the band’s perseverance and their willingness to push their sound into new territory.

More than a comeback, This Is a Test represents a creative reset: adventurous, expansive, and deeply rooted in the band’s mission to move bodies and minds.

Stream:
https://thesh-booms.hearnow.com/