Into the Distance Music 125

 

Shawn James - Passage, album review

Musical Alignment

The listening treat is, as usual, mostly in James’ vocal – that gruff but fulsome voice, able to roll into falsetto (for example) without sounding like it’s a test of show-off range. This is well demonstrated on Headed for the End with its bluesy, punchy strut that is on a signature emotive journey. Peace of Mind is similarly rooted in thrust and rock pulsing, the singing carrying the fullest load. I’m stressing where the weight is, and these two songs have that bit extra compared with the often melodramatic trajectory of others. Reading my reviews of James’ other output here might suggest where the songcraft is a more significant and sustained accompaniment. The acoustic Sometimes is a beautiful perfection of musical alignment in this collection. Let Me Go is excellent.

More details and to get, go here 

 

Eye Music 70

 

Carly Simon - Comes in Waves, album review

Past and Present

How the past and present collude and collide in Carly Simon's Comes in Waves, howling wonderfully. This is an emotive, clever, sly, candid, knowing and beautiful album. 

SLOP! - Part Man Part Fish, single review

Smells Fishy

The surreal image could suggest all kinds of things, and if it smells fishy you'd be missing the point: with witty lyrics and music that is surprisngly serious (I mean really good, really) this is a track to amuse as well as engage.

The 'slop'of the song is the physical, cultural and political crap that we greedily consume without question in our modern lives, but rather than construct a diatribe, Dominic Garnett creates music and lyrics that satirise with considerable wit and musical nous.

Slop, slop, drip drop, digital empires and predigested slop  

Built around a bass core, this track features harmonica as a throwback for older guys like me, and keys that could also come from any fine 60s/70s song but is far more jazz inflected for any time of musical appreciation. Guitar bursts from Sim Paskell add further layers to the punkish mix.

I also recommend the track Sexy People, Trendy Shit - also available on bandcamp - and look forward to a full album (or perhaps EP with which to start) for the musical takedowns celebration of our times.

For more details and to purchase, go here. 

 

Eye Music 69

 

Eliza Neals - Thunder in the House, album review

 

An Enduring Story

I first came across the outstanding bluesrock vocal of Eliza Neals in 2015, her album Breaking and Entering making my top twenty for that year. 

 

 

This album – released 26.3.26 – is a decade later of the same Detroit infused strength and substance, sustaining the earlier qualities that so impressed and adding a strata of skilled production and new players. Third track Blues Bombshell lays the template for the album’s fine songwriting and blues heart. Fourth All Alone displays a matured vocal range, and fifth Locked Up presents those vocals layered in obvious production expertise. But the driving force is the singing itself: strong and soulful and sassy. Title track and closer Thunder in the House is swelled with atmospheric reverb and brooding momentum where Neals’ voice is again echoed and harmonized over sultry guitar rhythms, licks and slide, all building in a heated storytelling.

Over the years of this blog (and my life!) I listen to as much music as ever, but write about this significantly less, so it’s great to be prompted to now express my appreciation for Eliza Neal’s latest. In an industry that has always been hard, and where artists/bands rely on performance – so badly affected by covid and the ongoing competitive nature of the Art – true class endures.

 

 

 

To read my earlier reviews of Neal’s work got here; for more info on Neal’s history/bio, the production and player profiles, and to purchase, go here.