If there was one thing that made artists establish Stax Records and the Muscle Shoals studios as their homes away from home, it was economy. From the punchy horn arrangements to the syncopated drums and the crisp guitar licks, ’60s soul music showed how much you could do with just enough. JJ Grey, the Mofro frontman, is at his best when he embraces this less-is-more aesthetic, which works more often than it doesn’t on their fourth release, Orange Blossoms.

JJ Grey and Mofro know not to overstay their welcome, whether in Grey’s blue-eyed soul vocals or the backing instrumentals. On “She Don’t Know,” his most overt shout-out to his idol, Otis Redding, Grey barely strains his vocals over mournful electric piano, a soft drum riff and threadbare violin: “She don’t know how much I love her / She don’t know how much I need / If the morning finds her gone, don’t know if I can carry on.” Too often, singers drown their emotions in vocal histrionics; Grey suggests he’s in too much pain to wail. When he tries to lay it on thick, as on “On Fire,” with his “girl is awn fi-ya!” sneer, he loses his sense of scale. Fortunately, those are the rare moments.

Soul needs to be handled with care, and if JJ Grey & Mofro’s music has become a bit familiar by now, it’s comforting to know they don’t overdo it.