With its sweeping piano lines and jazzy bass, ‘Gry Maritha’ – the opening track from Kelsey Michael’s debut long player ‘Lethowsow’ – channels material from Joni Mitchell’s ‘Court & Spark’ and ‘Hissing of Summer Lawns’ period, but with the help of a swooning melody and vocal choir, it quickly takes on more of its own identity. Michael’s rich vocal joins a really great sounding tune, and although her voice is used very much carries the melody (as you’d expect), it never dominates the track as a whole. The song’s middle section gives way to some brilliant harp work capturing a dream-like quality, and an unexpected coda finds the band launching into a jazzier groove where the piano and bass come together in a way sounds like a welcome throwback to a McCoy Tyner recording. It’s at this point the listener could become aware of experiencing something rather special.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
BIG CANYON – Big Canyon
On their debut release, ‘Horizon’, British rockers Big Canyon delivered some absolutely massive riffs. Often sounding like a much bigger, warmer version of Tangier and Tattoo Rodeo, and akin to more recent, retro sounding hard rockers in line with Blackberry Smoke and Bad Touch (albeit with more of a bluesy edge), they couldn’t be faulted from a musical point of view. The lead guitar playing was especially impressive. A very retro, slightly scratchy vocal took a little adjustment, but with some strong material in hand, it was clear that, even at an early stage, Big Canyon were a band on the road to potentially better things.
STONE DISCIPLE – Stoner Thrash EP
‘Stoner Thrash’ by Stone Disciple is one of those releases that, to use an old phrase, does exactly what it says on the tin. The guitar tones used throughout are pure stoner; the speed of the material, less so. Attacking like a harder edged Fu Manchu colliding with a riffy, speed loving Sabbath clone, this EP’s songs cover all the important stoner bases, and yet convey an energy that feels pleasingly fresh at the time of release.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #90
This week at the Singles Bar, we bring you a whole world of different sounds. You’ll find something with an orchestral heart, some adult singer-songwriter fare, an indie rock band experimenting with something almost prog-like, and some massive sounding synth based pop. There are a couple of big rock based tunes too, so it’s almost got all of Real Gone’s audience interests covered in eight well-chosen tracks. As alwoays, we hope you find something new to enjoy…
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BIDDADAT – Lovesick EP
Biddadat’s self-titled 2020 release shared some great funk oriented tunes. Tracks like ‘Outrageous’ and ‘Younger Days’ flaunted a strong influence from very commercial sounds – with the former actually veering close to something that sounds like a 90s alternative rock band playing ‘Get Lucky’ by Pharrell Williams, and the latter capturing the spirit of a ‘By The Way’ era Chili Peppers deep cut – whilst ‘Hey…I Like Your Body’ teetered a little closer to disco, but still conveyed an easy cool that suggested these musicians were more than happy in their shamelessly retro world. Not that people necessarily noticed: the album was released just weeks before the whole planet ground to a halt and the restrictions brought by Covid-19 pandemic meant that everyone had far more on their minds.