Self issued (label)
21 October 2013 (released)
03 January 2014
Hard edges and raw sound, dirty Blues at its best.
Rev Ferriday has been around since the late ‘80’s and did studio sessions for the likes of John Peel as well as hitting the indie charts. He released his first solo album in ’12 and this was released toward the end of last year and belting stuff it is too.
He is a trues solo artist playing guitar and drums as well as his raw singing but here he is joined by Owen Bray on guitar and mouth harp alongside Neil Sadler playing bass and drums.
The music is pretty uncompromising, sitting right in the Americana/roots end of the Blues and Bray’s hap howls alongside Ferriday’s harsh vocals through 9 tracks that sit pretty well alongside bands like Babajack or the Red Dirt Skinners who I had enjoyed recently or Nick Cave on his lighter moments.
On ‘Hallelujah’ for instance Bray’s harp sets up while Ferriday picks a lonely guitar and his dark and sneering vocals add to the murk rather than taking over from it. It is very much a band sound rather than a voice and accompaniments which keeps the interest all through.
To play this simple and raw you have to have ability and all three of them have the ability needed so that the whole album rocks and saws away at you without ever sounding stressed or outstripping the musical talents on offer.
Bottom line – this is a great example of music from the soul, almost under-produced and completely fresh.
