Reviews roundup – Essie vs. Silje Leirvik vs. UB40 vs. Jono

Reviews roundup – Essie vs. Silje Leirvik vs. UB40 vs. Jono

ESSIE
Run Red
self released

A young lassie me lad, hailing from the Gold Coast, Queensland, Essie is an up and coming Oztralian singer / songwriter who has veered into the world of blues rock. Ish. She’s still at college, studying Popular Music at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, and takes her influences from the likes of the Black Keys, U2 and Adele. Hence the ish.

It actually has just as much in common with seventies rock as it does blues rock, although her guitar pickings do have blues undertones, but vocally she’s going for a Stevie Nicks bawling vibe, which is really rather good. I’m less keen on the more introspective moments, but thankfully there is usually a revved up rocker just around the corner. As an introductory EP, it more than does its job, which is to make you think “hmm, I’d better keep an eye out for her”.

Definitely worth a listen.

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SILJE LEIRVIK
Endless Serenade
Autumnsongs

And so we travel from Australia to Norway, to lend a listen to the second album from Norwegian singer-songwriter Silje Leirvik. I liked the first one, “With The Lights Turned Out So Beautiful”, which was one of those bleak yet beautiful Nordic gems, which make you want so smile and cry at the same time. Something to do with staring out to the North Sea, something I do several times a week.

However, this one has moved away from the usual piano and strings singer / songwriter thing, and headed into a world of steel guitar, electric piano, drum machine, drums, mellotron, guitars and assorted gizmos. Which isn’t really my cup of tea. Luckily, though, the voice of Silje is still front and centre, something that saves the album.

If anything we’re off into a world of ambient prog, something that the likes of ‘Black Heart’ exemplifies. I was particularly smitten with ‘Sno’, even if I have no idea what it’s about (it’s sung in Norwegian), and even when she tries to go mainstream on the likes of ‘Silver & Gold’, there is something audibly different about her music.

It’ll take me more time to get this one, but get it I will.

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UB40
Getting Over The Storm
Virgin

The three hundreth album from UB40. Another one with Duncan Campbell singing instead of his brother Ali. And it’s another set of cover songs following on from “Labour Of Love IV”. Well, to be fair, there are four new tunes alongside pop-reggae versions of some country classics. Yes, UB40 have gone country.

So you get the Randy Travis song ‘On the Other Hand’, George Jones’ ‘Getting Over the Storm’, Willie Nelson’s ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’, Jim Reeves’ ‘He’ll Have to Go’ and even a bash at ‘Midnight Rider’ by the Allman Brothers band. Which is blasphemy, but lets not go there.

However, there is some rather inventive music on offer, with some of the tracks definite keepers. They include the Vince Gill number ‘If You Ever Have Forever in Mind’, replete with horn section and a delightful run through of the aforementioned ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain’. Fans of the band will enjoy this, even if its unlikely to win any new converts. But thirty years down the road, I suspect that isn’t the point.

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JONO
Requiem
Musicano Records

Finally, for today, we head back to Scandinavia, and Swedish band Jono, aka vocalist Johan Norrby and his mates. Who happen to include Within Temptation guitarist Stefan Hellebald and drummer Nicka Hellenberg, who appeared on the last Within Temptation album, alongside Johan Carlgren on keyboards and Janne Henriksson on bass.

And Jono take aim firmly at the world of seventies pomp on this rather excellent release. Norrby admits to a Freddy Mercury influence, although his Mika admiration knocks off a couple of points, and a lot of the material on this album has a Queen feel to it. He likes to hit the big notes away up there, and when the songs match the ambition, as they do on the likes of ‘I Was The One’, ‘Judgement Day’ and ‘Nothing’, then it’s a real treat.

There are a few too many ballads, which means that things take an eighties rather than a seventies feel, but that apart, this is a cracking release. Stick in an anthemic rocker on the follow-up, and the world could be theirs.

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