Getting back on a roll with posts now, I’ve been collecting up singles to review over the last few weeks and here are a couple that you should certainly be trying out…
Pennan Brae – Weed & Whisky Women (Distilled Mix)
Light years away from the guitar-centric power pop of his recent album ‘Lit’ ‘Weed & Whisky Women ‘finds our man sharing vocals with a lady whose name the internet has yet to supply. Lead song from an album that is out today (25th June) to be called ‘Cinema’.
My friend Hilary who is the U.K.s number one Pennan Brae fan took a while to warm up to this song and I can see why. If you have been listening to his best Rolling Stones riffs for a bit, then this takes a bit of left turn. If I was asked to compare it to someone then it’s Thomas Dolby. The rumbling bass riff under the dub style voices could come off one of Dolby’s later albums quite easily. But Pennan is very much his own man and after a few plays this gets under your skin.
As I am writing this the album has dropped on Spotify, and the original is a far more conventional Stones/country flavoured song. The Distilled Mix, by Kirk Kelsey who has worked with Smashing Pumpkins previously, is something different altogether. Get the album, I’m sure it will be up on Bandcamp by the time you read this, and review of that will follow.
In case you missed it Pennan was good enough to answer a few questions for me when Lit came out, and it was published over at Duggystone Radio, here in fact.
Robert Jon & the Wreck – Shine A Light On Me Brother
I reviewed Robert Jon’s last album ‘Last Light on The Highway’ for Americana UK last year. That got 9 out of 10, and so does this new single. A bit Blues Brothers type gospel soul, a bit of rock and a lot of fun. It’s the title song for an album due out in September and is one of those songs that leaves the air vibrating when it ends, if you play it at the right volume at least. An all-round fab song, totally over the top with the kitchen sink thrown at the mix. If the rest of the album is this good, I’m not sure where I go with my rankings, 9.75 perhaps? The single’s out now and the album is for pre order at Bandcamp.
