tonemonkey

So, every year when the nominees for the British Blues Awards are announced I end up discovering bucketloads of great new music I have never heard. This year, thanks to the fact I have been involved in the nomination process, I’ve been starting the discoveries early…

The first of those discoveries is the fabulous Lucy Zirins, a solo acoustic act nominated in the young artist section of the awards. She has a couple of independent releases available and I’m reviewing the very impressive EP Angel Blue here.

In the most basic sense, this is a very simple record to make, a single voice and a single instrument, but equally that makes it hard, there is no hiding, you can’t bury any errors and failings with other instruments. It’s a very pure and confident thing to attempt, especially in one so young. Bravery is a word that comes up a lot when I’m considering this recording, she’s a girl in a male dominated genre, she’s doing this alone without a band to back her up, and most of all she is brave enough to take on some blues royalty in the opening track.

It takes a confident musician to take on the likes of Son House, and Lucy has that confidence in taking on Death Letter Blues, and better still making a more than reasonable job of it too. While she may lack the world weary, lived in quality of Son’s voice, her youthful passion is very effective at giving a new slant on the track. Good things continue throughout the disc, great songs delivered impeccably with a maturity of playing and singing that belies the performers youth, while it doesn’t disguise it either. Young people have young voices, and Lucy decides, very wisely, not to hide hers with false affectations or a put on growl, this, for me, only adds to her appeal as an artist, there’s nothing I like less than “let’s pretend” artists trying to be what they’re not.

The recording sounds very live and intimate. There’s a definite room sound at play and while this is something that many engineers strive to avoid, in this situation it adds to the presence of the performer and to the sense of sharing a space with them. 

This is not a perfect release, I can hear there’s a lot of room for Lucy to grow, as a songwriter and as a performer, but I do think it is superb. I love it’s intimacy, honesty and courage, and for that it demands your attention.

I can readily see why Lucy has gained her nomination, I can’t wait to see what is yet to come!

Very few albums in British blues have been as hotly anticipated over the last few years as the debut release of the Motives with Matt Taylor. It’s for good reason that people have been on the edge of their seats waiting for this as four of the UK’s top blues musicians have joined forces in a supergroup, and, should the numbers stack up the way they could, this shall be spectacular.

Things begin well, Matt’s searing lead guitar drives the opening track making for a powerful first statement. It doesn’t stop there though as the virtuoso performances continue throughout the record, swirling organ, tight drums and grooving bass all have their moment in the spotlight, pulling together to make an intensely grooving record. Thankfully though, things do not get self indulgent, a real risk when you combine such great talents as these, and it’s the collection of solid, well written songs that come out on top.

It really is the songs that are in the spotlight here, they are erudite and clever without stretching too far and becoming pompous or intellectually obtuse, the image is easy for most of us to relate to. There is something familiar about many of the grooves on the record, strong hints of Bo Diddley, Booker T and Procul Harum crop up in the songs, but instead of being copyist, the familiar is mated with the unusual, odd chord structures and witty lyrics providing the refreshing balance. Overall there is a sense of filmic production to the whole thing, odd to say about a record I know, but there is a sense of stories being told and a strong acknowledgement of influence while still being individual. Perhaps I can put it better by saying this could be a Quentin Tarantino record, if that’s what he did. 

So is this record what I expected? No. That’s not a bad thing though, when what I expected was the exact opposite of what I enjoy about this record. Matt, Jonny, Andy and Roy have stayed well away from the look at what I can do theatrics you expect of supergroups, so much so that they aren’t, in fact, a supergroup at all, they’re a band. That’s something special, and if I’m not being floored by flash and spectacle I’m not disappointed. What I have instead is an album I can listen to for years to come, that won’t become dated won’t disappoint when I come back to it, and all in all that is something to be prouder of than a spectacular guitar solo.

And I love it even more when its from extremely talented young people, these folks are the future of the music we love and need to be nurtured and encouraged, so, if I can do a bit to help them, I will.

If you’re a regular listener to my show, Blues is the Truth, you will have heard that I was lucky enough to be allowed to announce the nominees in a category of this years British Blues Awards. What was even better is that it was the young artist category. I cannot over state how proud this made me, firstly that I get to be a part of the awards, and more so that I’m given the job of telling some amazing young talents that they are up for an award.

Over the coming week I’ll be putting up a little bit about each of them so keep your eyes on the blog!