If you’re looking for a band to serve up some modern, imaginative, but still rootsy blues music, Denmark's Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado make for a very good bet, as their ninth studio album House Of Sticks reaffirms.
There’s a whole spectrum of blues and roots sounds on the menu here, tied together by Risager’s smoky vocals and ear-catching lyrics, with the opening ‘House Of Sticks’ serving as a persuasive taster for the original sounds the Tornado can conjure up. It starts out as primitive, scratchy blues, Risager singing of being “stuck in a house of sticks and a storm is blowing”, before folding in an eerie, drawn out keyboard note and clunking percussion, until a quirky, martial fanfare kinda horn riff pipes up. There are trilling, jazzy piano runs, and spooky low-slung horn notes before it draws to a close, having sparked the imagination.
They may have a reputation for blues-rocking, but the only time they really rock out here is on the following ‘Already Gone’, which swaggers in with an insistent, nagging riff, over a heavy beat, that could be the foundation for the kind of futuristic boogie on which Muse might offer their usual dystopian observations. Back on planet Earth though, the focus switches to a couple of scorching guitar solos, the second of which is especially wiry and jagged.
They get good and funky more than once though. ‘Long Time Ago’ rides an upbeat groove reinforced by wood block clacking from drummer Martin Seidelin, and enhanced by subtle horns, as the basis for some evocative storytelling about a man stuck on the road “looking for something he lost, a long time ago”, and with a steely guitar solo to inject extra urgency. ‘Inner Light’ sports a loping, Stevie Wonder-like clavinet groove over buzzing bass funkiness, while Risager reflects that there’s “so much hate in this world we’re living in,” but insists that “I know I’m stronger than the darkness / And I’ll hold on till the summer comes around” energised by squawking sax and grooving piano and horns. And ‘Climbed A Mountain’ is a bopping, behind the beat shuffle with pulsing synth sounds in the background, mingling with toots of horns to create a propulsive vibe, leading to a confident, assertive, harmony-boosted chorus. There’s a stinging, ringing guitar motif too, and some squealing sax commentary too for good measure.
There’s an autumnal kind of spirit threaded through the album, a sense of time passing, but also of the resilience needed to cope with it. So ‘Light Of Your Love’ foregrounds gentle electric piano and a laid back, tripping rhythm as the foundation for Risager’s atmospheric vocal about being “Here in the dark, here in the midnight hour”, before a ribbon gets tied around the tune with the simple but effective, mellow chorus. Meanwhile ‘We’ll Get By’ is a slowie that revolves around weeping slide guitar over acoustic strumming, before getting positive with another simple, uplifting chorus: “It’s alright, I feel good, I’m gonna hold my head up high”. And ‘Out Of The Rain’ is mid-paced but dreamy, with its backdrop of moaning horns and squiggling keys, until it’s roused by fuzzy, strident injections of guitar.
They close the album beautifully, with ‘Fine Summer Night’, its restrained slide guitar twirling and unfurling over more acoustic strumming, to create an easy-going vibe like laying back on a veranda with a margarita, scanning the sunset and daydreaming about “catching a fish to fry”.
House Of Sticks isn’t an explosive album, though it does have its punchy moments. It’s more an earworm of a creature, the Black Tornado burrowing their subtle way into your brain and captivating with their grooves. My advice is to tune in, turn on, and chill out.
House Of Sticks is released by Provogue Records on 31 January, and can be ordered here.
There’s a whole spectrum of blues and roots sounds on the menu here, tied together by Risager’s smoky vocals and ear-catching lyrics, with the opening ‘House Of Sticks’ serving as a persuasive taster for the original sounds the Tornado can conjure up. It starts out as primitive, scratchy blues, Risager singing of being “stuck in a house of sticks and a storm is blowing”, before folding in an eerie, drawn out keyboard note and clunking percussion, until a quirky, martial fanfare kinda horn riff pipes up. There are trilling, jazzy piano runs, and spooky low-slung horn notes before it draws to a close, having sparked the imagination.
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| Thorbjørn Risager & The Black Tornado - eight men in search of a groove Pic by Christoffer Askman |
They may have a reputation for blues-rocking, but the only time they really rock out here is on the following ‘Already Gone’, which swaggers in with an insistent, nagging riff, over a heavy beat, that could be the foundation for the kind of futuristic boogie on which Muse might offer their usual dystopian observations. Back on planet Earth though, the focus switches to a couple of scorching guitar solos, the second of which is especially wiry and jagged.
They get good and funky more than once though. ‘Long Time Ago’ rides an upbeat groove reinforced by wood block clacking from drummer Martin Seidelin, and enhanced by subtle horns, as the basis for some evocative storytelling about a man stuck on the road “looking for something he lost, a long time ago”, and with a steely guitar solo to inject extra urgency. ‘Inner Light’ sports a loping, Stevie Wonder-like clavinet groove over buzzing bass funkiness, while Risager reflects that there’s “so much hate in this world we’re living in,” but insists that “I know I’m stronger than the darkness / And I’ll hold on till the summer comes around” energised by squawking sax and grooving piano and horns. And ‘Climbed A Mountain’ is a bopping, behind the beat shuffle with pulsing synth sounds in the background, mingling with toots of horns to create a propulsive vibe, leading to a confident, assertive, harmony-boosted chorus. There’s a stinging, ringing guitar motif too, and some squealing sax commentary too for good measure.
There’s an autumnal kind of spirit threaded through the album, a sense of time passing, but also of the resilience needed to cope with it. So ‘Light Of Your Love’ foregrounds gentle electric piano and a laid back, tripping rhythm as the foundation for Risager’s atmospheric vocal about being “Here in the dark, here in the midnight hour”, before a ribbon gets tied around the tune with the simple but effective, mellow chorus. Meanwhile ‘We’ll Get By’ is a slowie that revolves around weeping slide guitar over acoustic strumming, before getting positive with another simple, uplifting chorus: “It’s alright, I feel good, I’m gonna hold my head up high”. And ‘Out Of The Rain’ is mid-paced but dreamy, with its backdrop of moaning horns and squiggling keys, until it’s roused by fuzzy, strident injections of guitar.
They close the album beautifully, with ‘Fine Summer Night’, its restrained slide guitar twirling and unfurling over more acoustic strumming, to create an easy-going vibe like laying back on a veranda with a margarita, scanning the sunset and daydreaming about “catching a fish to fry”.
House Of Sticks isn’t an explosive album, though it does have its punchy moments. It’s more an earworm of a creature, the Black Tornado burrowing their subtle way into your brain and captivating with their grooves. My advice is to tune in, turn on, and chill out.
House Of Sticks is released by Provogue Records on 31 January, and can be ordered here.
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