The authorities might say that Albany Down stretch the
definition of blues a bit. They’re more hard
rock in a classic vein, but with some blues and funk components. Whatever – they’re an outfit of some promise.
The musicianship is impressive, from Paul Turley on guitar,
and the rhythm section of Donna Peters on drums and Billy Dedman on bass, while
singer Paul Muir has a soaring, powerful voice.
All of which is put to good use on a variety of gutsy riffs, searing
guitar solos, funky rhythms, and anthemic choruses.
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| Two Pauls for the price of one - Turley and Muir |
There’s a definite hint of Thunder in the air, not least on
the opener ‘Feeding The Flame’, with its chunky riff and neat harmonies. The Eastern swirl of the mid-section recalls
‘Empty City’, or perhaps Rainbow in 'Midtown Tunnel Vision' mode, as a prelude
to a big finish. ‘Like A Bullet’
demonstrates a similar sense of dynamics, with its piercing guitar lines and
restrained instrumentation.
‘Do You Want Me Now’ features a staccato riff with a hint of
funk, some distorted, squealing guitar licks from Turley, and pounding drums
from Peters, while Muir goes for a broke on one of several soaring choruses in
evidence.
In fact the funk tendencies are in evidence on a number of
songs. On ‘Supersonic Girl’, which may
be a bit lightweight but features a couple of nice touches of punctuation from
Peters. There’s also the off-beat rhythm
of ‘Revolution’, which closes with Turley delivering a sizzling, wah-wah
inflected solo over a riff of steady, climbing chords. And there’s the tough funk underlay to the
verses on ‘The Drop’, which makes use of some neck-snapping hesitations while
getting on with business in a pleasingly direct way
Too often though, Muir’s vocals have to compete with an
over-heated, dense production. For a
four-piece supposedly made up of just guitar, bass and drums there’s a hell of
a lot of keyboards splashed around, along with some bursts of yer actual horns and strings, not to mention a surfeit of
harmonies and double-tracked vocals. As
a result there are times when it feels like the different elements don’t have
room to breathe. So a song like ‘Mr Hangman’
has a good Zepp-ish feel, with a twisting guitar riff and twitching rhythm, followed
up by some satisfyingly grimy slide, but the chorus feels over-egged.
The dynamics of ‘Like A Bullet’ feel like a blessed relief
amid the relentlessness of some arrangements.
By the same token the closing ‘Sing Me To Sleep’ is a little gem – simple,
restrained, and effective. Placing it
earlier in the album might have offered a timely breather from the full-on aural assault elsewhere.
Much as a big,
fat rocking sound can appeal to me, I’d like to hear Albany Down strip things
back a bit – and hopefully in a live setting the essence of their four-piece
set-up will see them do just that.
The Outer Reach is
released on 10 June.
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