Page 43 - BiTS_08_AUGUST_2022

Brave Rival—Life’s Machine—Self Release

Brave Rival are currently making giant strides on the British
blues scene following their nomination for “Best Emerging
Blues Artist Of The Year” at the UK Blues Awards 2022.

The album opens with a raucous rocker ‘Heart Attack’ fol-
lowed by ‘Guilty Love’ a very 1980’s style rocker reminiscent
of Bon Jovi’s ‘You Give Love A Bad Name’. ‘Without You’ has
some nice vocal harmonies whilst it’s back to the 80’s again
for the high energy rocker ‘Run And Hide’. They slow things
down a little with the blues based ‘Come Down’. ‘What’s Your
Name Again?’ as the name suggests is a raunchy tale with some nice slide guitar and a hint of
Led Zeppelin’s ‘When The Levee Breaks’ about it.

‘Long Time Coming’ opens with a feel of Chris Isaak’s ‘Wicked Game’ before developing into a
full on vocal extravaganza. There is a hint of soul in ‘Fool For You’ and the title track ‘Life’s Ma-

chine’ tracing the circle of life unfolds into an epic, poignant rock ballad to close the album.

This album is well put together and the musicianship is well crafted. The touches of
keyboards added by Jonny Henderson really brings value to the overall sound, but it is the
uniqueness of the dual vocalists Chloe Josephine and Lindsey Bonnick that really makes a dif-
ference here and the harmonies really make the songs stand out.

This album is more rock than blues and as such is not quite my bag. However that said don’t
let me put you off, it is still a fine album that I’m sure you rock fans out there will really enjoy
so why not check it out.

Ged Wilson

Durham County Poets—Out of the Woods—DCP 005

Well, what was I expecting? Perhaps a bunch of guys stroking
their beards and making portentous pronouncements on the
meaning of life in north-eastern accented English,
accompanied by an atonal guitar and maybe a bongo drum?
Maybe that says a lot about my own attitude as what we
actually get is a rather lovely mix of extremely listenable

blues, R’n’B, soul and Americana…
The band came together in a small cafe in Ormstown, Quebec,
in Canada, and this is their fifth album. The opener, ‘Working

On It’ hits a hip groove, with Kevin Harvey’s fine lead vocal
ably riding a cushion of guest Bob Stagg’s organ playing and
some fine horns. Next up is a slower, moody blues intro to ‘Together In The Groove’ before a
“Mission Impossible”- like guitar riff transforms this into a funky blues. ‘Mean Old Dog’ then
rides a boogie-blues riff, and ‘Love’s Got A Hold On Me’ is an excellent modern slow blues
performance.

Further on into the album and there’s an atmospheric cover of Bob Dylan’s masterful ‘Not
Dark Yet’ (well, these guys are poets, I guess), and a vaguely Sam Cooke-ish original, ‘What We