The 2:19 - Keep My Will Strong

They’re a bit of a two-faced bunch, The 2:19.  I mean this in the nicest possible way, you understand.
See, on the one hand the Belfast band are partial to knocking out some rasping, rocking blues. But on the other, they like to pursue some different rootsy avenues.  More importantly though, they’re pretty darned good either way.
They open Keep My Will Strong with a trio of bluesy outings.  ‘One Thing I Figured’ is a grinding blues stomp, augmented by big waves of organ from guest keys man John McCullough. It’s a well-constructed affair, with a ducking and diving slide solo from Paul Wilkinson, supplemented by blasts of harp from Chris Chalmers, who delivers the cryptic lyric with his customary rich

The 2:19 find a suitable venue to get a round in

vocal.  They follow that with the punchy shuffle of ‘Dead Dogs & Bee Suits’, driven along crisply by Monty Sneddon's drums, with an emphatic chorus and wailing slide and harp sparring with each other.  Then ‘Gape Row’ is brighter – ironically given that the downbeat lyrics centre on the demolition of an old street – and strewn with guitar licks, until they dial it down for a bridge that reflects on a celebrated local woman of dubious means.
‘Say Yeah’ signals a shift in tone, with some short and sweet Motown-ish stylings full of chiming piano, tambourine rattling, grooving bass from Marty Young, and sweet backing vocals courtesy of Suzy Coyle, while Chalmers has fun rasping out the “I wanna hear you say yeah” refrain.  And later they lay back into a more relaxed soul vibe on ‘Stepping Stone’, with understated bass meandering over the steady beat, and dustings of chocolate box piano here and there.
In between they show adventurous restraint with the slower ‘Go Blind’, a folk-soul-blues kinda thing that leads with delicate acoustic picking, soon joined by equally delicate piano.  Chalmers delivers a vocal full of feeling on lines like “These eyes of yours could start world wars, and the smile could end them all,” embellished by some hushed harmonies, before they ramp things up into more anthemic mode, crystallising in an evocative, buzzing solo from Wilkinson.
They get subtler still on ‘Hawthorn Black’, a lovely tune with shades of Del Amitri – albeit without the bitterness Justin Currie might bring to proceedings. With brushed drums, prickling acoustic guitar, and softly reflective vocal, it has a vaguely Celtic-soul air about it, and calling it a lovely little tune feels like selling it short.
The Celtic vibe takes a different turn on ‘Who Do They Think They Are’, with a guitar harmony motif from Wilkinson and his six string buddy Ady Young, while Chalmers delivers a smooth but disputatious vocal.  But the guitars really return to the fray on ‘The Ring’, a slow-paced tramp with a spiky, distorted riff to go with the downright gravelly, Tom-Waits-with-a-hangover vocal from drummer Monty Sneddon, reinforced by blasts of harp and a bristling, wiry guitar solo.
‘My Oh My’ is strutting R’n’B locked into a snapping snare drum, with a ‘Spirit In The Sky’-adjacent riff, and squalls of slide and harp adding to the grit all the way to a jangling, swinging outro.  Then they lighten up with some Faces-like good-time boogie on ‘Go Home’, embodying the “It’s three in the morning, I just wanna go home” sentiments in ramshackle bar band style, right down to Wilkinson’s ringing Chuck Berry style solo.
Having got that off their chest, the title track inhabits a soulful gospel vibe.  Sweeps of church-like organ and strokes of piano from McCullough are the principal backdrop for Chalmers’ pleading, hoarse vocal, robustly complemented by some testifying from Suzy Coyle and piercing Wilkinson guitar.  Then they ease through the exit door with the rippling guitar and low key but sunny-side-up mood of ‘Let It Slide’.
With Keep My Will Strong The 2:19 have served up a smörgãsbord of well executed, warm and well balanced, rootsy flavours – and an impressive follow-up to their award-nominated 2023 album We Will Get Through This.  
 
Keep My Will Strong is released on 27 January.

The 2:19 - We Will Get Through This

Back in 2021 Belfast band The 2:19 released their debut album Revelator, a collection of very satisfying, meat-and-two-veg blues originals that showed a bit of potential.  Their new album We Will Get Through This isn’t as good as that.  It’s better.  Much better.
Let me begin at the very end, with the title track.  After a mournful flutter of harmonica 'We Will Get Through This' opens with just voice and acoustic strumming, as singer Chris Chalmers gently lays out a message of personal reassurance and encouragement in response to a shared moment of doubt and fear.  An undertone of organ emerges, then some sensitive electric guitar

The 2:19 play musical chairs

remarks.  Then as the lyric grows in conviction, the band come in, but subtly. A female voice adds sighing backing vocals, alongside brushes of piano.  And gradually, as the lyric becomes more universal in intent, the song evolves into a marvellous, uplifting slice of soul – especially when that female voice, the property of guest singer Amy Montgomery, comes to the fore and counterpoints Chalmers’ own moans and groans.
‘We Will Get Through This’ makes for a bravura climax, no question about it.

But the really great thing is that it doesn’t stand in isolation.  The album builds to this peak from the start as The 2:19 go through the gears with confidence.  They grab things by the scruff of the neck with the opening ‘No Smoke No Fire’, all crunching staccato chords, steady thumping beat and declamatory vocal, plus an impressively barbed guitar solo from Paul Wilkinson, and they don’t let go.
They loosen up a bit on the likes of ‘Turn Out The Lights’, but in a good way. A twitching shuffle, it’s crying out for handclaps to underline its good-time feel and go with the on-the-money harp solo from Andrei.  ‘Best Suit’ goes back to their roots, a slice of straight-up blues, with the bass and drums laying out a toe-tapping groove, and some rinky-dink piano and slide guitar as garnishing for a brisk tale of crime and punishment.  ‘Hey Carolina’ suggests they’ve supped at a similar Southern well to Robert Jon & The Wreck, horns and all, while ‘The Reach’ shows that they can get funky too.  And as a livener before the finale, ‘Seven Wonders’ is a cheerful chunk of Frankie Miller-style R’n’B, replete with rootsy harp and slide, on which the hero’s global sight-seeing always ends up back with his bewitching baby.
These songs all make for solid, impressive foundations.  But along the way they also detonate the fierce, surging ‘Ready To Go’, a stand-out propelled by some serious tub-thumping from Monty Sneddon, throbbing bass from Marty Young, and some ripped out, resonant rhythm guitar from Ady Young, as the underpinning for Chalmers’ edgy, semi-distorted vocal and a knife-edge guitar solo, also this time from Ady Young.
And they continue to demonstrate their potential down the stretch.  ‘Radio Smiles’ is laid-back and soulful, well-suited to Chalmers’ rich voice, a story of drive-time radio listening as a vehicle for personal reflections, with mellow organ from guest ivory-finagler John McCullough (who adds excellent brush strokes throughout) and similarly subtle horns from Barry McCrudden and Linley Hamilton, the latter also furnishing a well-placed trumpet solo.  There’s some evocative word-smithing too, as in “an old song sweet enough to make a radio smile”, and if it’s a song that doesn’t hit the absolute heights, it’s still reaching for them.
‘Broken Harmony Blues’ is another matter though.  It’s a slow, sensitive duet, again featuring the alarmingly good Amy Montgomery, whose voice blends perfectly with Chalmers on a beautifully simple piano and voice arrangement that illustrates how less can be much, much more.
When I reviewed their debut album, I suggested The 2:19 had hinted at a spirit of adventure they hadn’t quite fulfilled.  On We Will Get Through This that spirit has flowered.  They’ve written some songs that stretch beyond the basic blues framework, been bold enough to bring in session musos to help them fully realise those songs, and been well-served by the engineering and mixing of Michael Mormecha.  Salutes and high fives all round folks – this is a damn good album.
 
We Will Get Through This is released on all major digital platforms on 23 January.
 

Quickies - The 2:19, True Strays, and Micki Free

The 2:19 – Revelator
 
Fire and brimstone.  Damnation.  Apocalypse.  The 2:19 are fond of lyrics that explore the dark side.  Musically they can’t quite muster the same infernal edge, one or two tracks apart.  But the Belfast band know their way around a stack of blues formulations all the same, and across this all-original collection they swing and strut their way through them in handy fashion.  No flash, but good solid fare.

The 2:19 - on hot rails to hell!

They’re happy to show their influences at times, as on ‘All Kinds Of Evil’, on which Howlin’ Wolf looms over their collective shoulders as they twang along to a funereal beat, with appealing piano remarks along the way and squawking harp interweaving with slide guitar.   Singer Chris Chalmers can’t match the heft of the Wolf – and not many can – but he still has a rich and resonant voice, and good phrasing.  And while ‘Bad Blood’ may be a weary tale, its melody is essentially a downbeat take on Little Walter’s ‘My Babe’.  No shame in that mind, since Walter’s hit was basically a reworking by Willie Dixon of the gospel standard ‘This Train Is Bound For Glory’.
More upbeat moments include ‘Dancer’, with its rolling melody set to a Bo Diddley beat, and some big raunchy chords adding punctuation before they slip into a quicker rhythm, embellished by some gutsy harp and a rippling piano solo.  ‘Diamond In The Dust’ has a jagged riff and a stabbing beat, as the groundwork for flurries of harp, a whirl of lead guitar, and some on the money boogie-woogie piano. And there’s some Johnny Cash-like storytelling on ‘Lee Shelton’, throatily delivered by Chalmers, with some good interplay between harp and piano, finished up by a tough wah-wah guitar break.
Aside from 'Revelator' itself, they get closest to that ink-black lyrical mood on some of the later tracks.  ‘Black Dog Moan’ starts off spooky, with prickling Resonator guitar, and retains a Robert Johnson-like quality even as it develops into a grinding, shave-and-a-haircut rhythm, augmented by swirling organ and a slithering slide solo.  ‘Abandon Hope’ may trip along neatly, but the eerie, bendy guitar twanging and wailing harp do suggest a sense of despair.  It’s the closing ‘Old Days Comin’ Back’, though, where they finally embody the lyrical darkness, with scraping guitar notes, subdued plonks of bass, and reverb wrapped around Chalmers’ vocal.  For once they resist the temptation to rev things up, and instead make good use of a spoken bridge straight out of Revelations, delivered in a menacing Celtic brogue, before a ghostly finish.
Getting right down to it, I reckon The 2:19 are your typical good-time blues band, well capable of entertaining a crowd.  But they show a spirit of adventure too, and even if they don’t always manage to stretch far beyond their comfort zone on Revelator, good luck to ‘em for trying.

Revelator is available now.
 
 
True Strays – Heart Of The Matter
 
Bristolian duo True Strays, comprising Josh James and James Cameron, have apparently garnered a reputation in Americana circles in recent years.  And on ‘Campesina’, the catchy opening track on Heart Of The Matter, there are some cod-American sounding vocals going on.  But don’t be misled.  Most of the time True Strays sound as English as fish and chips.
Yeah, there’s maybe a smidgin of country in their sound.  But there are also pinches of blues, and a big dollop of indie-folk.  And they like to rock a bit too.  It’s roots music that defies easy labels, and it’s pretty engaging.
It’s all about servicing the songs, really.  ‘God Damn My Soul’ starts out relatively cool, but then ringing chords herald a big chorus, with chant-along vocals that are really a precursor for an even more anthemic bridge, underpinned by walloping drums.  Oh yeah, and when they want some extra oomph they unleash surges of organ..  ‘Salt Dog (Howling For You)’ has another big chorus, but it opens with an intriguing, world music-style bass and drums combination, and is carried along on a wiry guitar refrain in a similar vein.  ‘War Cry’ similarly foregrounds the bass line, with backing vocals humming a wordless theme, before they wind up the tempo with bongos, boost the chanted chorus with organ again, and then throw the kitchen sink into the ending.
‘This Is An Emergency’ eases in with mournful guitar lines over restrained, rolling drums, an ear-catching tune that balances tension and urgency in intriguing fashion, with less boisterously layered harmonies.  ‘Golden Age’ offers some social commentary, with some tortured slide guitar and howling harp conveying the anger.
‘Rosalea’ is an indie-folk ballad with percussive harmonised vocals and a mournful vibe that’s disturbed by more of that wiry guitar before they build an epic, cymbal-crashing crescendo.  The penultimate track ‘In Your Hands’ has another appealing chorus, but not much more until some discordant sax and slivers of guitar start worrying away over metronomic bass towards the end.

Micki Free dresses down for the day

Pic by Marie Gregorio-Oviedo

The brief title track rounds off the album nicely though, its running water, acoustic guitar and flute evoking Zeppelin in folkie mode – but without the Jimmy Page guitar workout.
There’s a lot to like in Heart Of The Matter.  True Strays write some good songs, and produce some refreshing arrangements.  At times I’m reminded of Curse of Lono, and Fleet Foxes, and even without the depth of the former, or the ethereal quality of the latter, those are good benchmarks.  But then at times their liking for those belted out layered vocals puts me in mind of Mumford & Sons – and while that might appeal to a horde of people, I assuredly am not one of them.

Heart Of The Matter is released on 18 March, and can be ordered here.
 
 
Micki Free – Turquoise Blue
 
When Micki Free and his pals start to crank out ‘Bye 2020’, a middle finger salute to a frustrating year, I am – ironically – in one of my happy places.  Stand well back, because here comes a big, grinding slab of a riff rolling down the highway!  There’s a snarky sounding pre-chorus thing redolent of ‘School’s Out’, a fist-pumping chorus, a rockin’ guitar solo, and a “hey-hey-ing” bridge.  What’s not to like about a 70s-like garage rock stomp like that?
This is not typical of what follows on Turquoise Blue however.  Oh, Micki Free can write a big earth-moving riff alright, and there are a few to choose from.  But that sense of release evident on ‘Bye 2020’ is mostly absent from the rest of the album.
What you do hear though, are the influences of Hendrix and Santana.  The latter is avowedly at the heart of ‘World On Fire’ for example, which features Cindy Blackmon-Santana on drums as well as Santana vocalist Andy Vargas, while Free does his best Carlos tribute on guitar.  And ‘Spring Fever’ is similarly Latin in intent, with a ‘She’s Not There’ vibe and airy vocal to match the title.
On the Hendrix front meanwhile, the heavy, bendy rhythm guitar riff of ‘Heavy Mercy’ is clearly drawn from Jimi, as is the fluting, distorted guitar soloing, which builds impressively to an air raid siren two-tone.  Oh yeah, and there’s a straight-up Hendrix-style rendition of ‘All Along The Watchtower’ too, which is – well, pretty redundant really.
‘Judicator Blues’ jogs along in an easy mid-tempo, with hints of funk and a nicely dry lyric, while Christone ‘Kingfish’ Ingram pops up to deliver an enjoyable solo.  But the bump’n’grind of ‘Come Home Big Mama’ is better, largely because the vocal contribution of Trish Bowden brings a more soulful feel into play.
‘My Big Regret’ demonstrates a lighter touch, with a ‘Rain Song’-like chord sequence and a tasteful “nylon guitar solo” by Steve Stevens, guitarist to Billy Idol.  And ‘Blue Memories’, with its acoustic strumming, is similarly mellow and summery.
But yeah, the riffs, right?  ‘Invitation Love’ sound menacing rather than romantic, with its big dirty chords chugging away, and scrabbling wah-wah guitar solo.  ‘Woman’ twists and turns, and is really all about the funky riffing and the solos, the first of which comes from Gary Clark Jr.  And ‘Heaven Or Heroin’ is a rumbling thing with screeching lead licks, however calm Free’s vocal may be.
Listening to this album it’s hard to credit that Micki Free spent nine years of his career with the soul group Shalamar.  No call for lead-heavy guitar work in that environment.  But if Turquoise Blue is big – and I mean really big – on riffs, then the songs are less impactful.  Except ‘Bye 2020’, of course.  More of that kind of thing, Micki!
 
Turquoise Blue is out now on Dark Idol Music.