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other songs, deeply entrenched in the history of black American music. Covers of ‘Another Man

Done Gone’ from Vera Hall, ‘Chain Gang’ from Sam Cook, ‘Down In Mississippi’ from JB Lenoir,
‘Lord Help The Poor and Needy’ from Jessie Mae Hemphill and ‘You Gotta Move’ often attributed to
Fred McDowell, but more likely ‘trad’, plus an outstanding version of the cry for justice-denied that

is ‘Strange Fruit’ first recorded by Billie Holiday, fill out a magnificent set.

The titular head, and lead singer of the band is Laetitia “Tia” Gouttebel. Tia has a magnificent voice
with a large range and the capacity for great subtlety (‘Strange Fruit’). If you are a lover of old

blues, trance blues,Mississippi blues and music from the hill country of that state, this one is for
you.

Ian K McKenzie

Jarkka Rissanen & Sons of the Desert—Cargo—Humu Records

Jarkka Rissanen & Sons of the Desert are a four piece band from

Finland and their new release ‘Cargo’ is a totally instrumental
album.

The album opens with ‘Tomcat’ which has a bit of an unusual
groove with a 70’s feel about it. ‘Rocking Chair’ is another slow
paced groove with vocal style guitar melody lines giving off a

very loose feel. The title track ‘Cargo’ is once again slow paced,
whilst ‘Mousetrap’ has a hint of rumba about it.

The band consists of two guitarists; Jarkka Rissanen and Markus
Vaisanen, with Ilpo Komulainen on bass and Esa Karki drums. They have a unique style which is

hard to pigeonhole and being totally instrumental seems more to lean towards creating a mood
rather than having a lead focal point. They blend hints of rock, blues, jazz and soul into chilled out
lounge music which sometimes borders on trippy.

‘Pow - Wow’ has a more bluesy line underpinned with the percussion work emphasising the toms
which may be a hint to the title. ‘The Bull’ interjects the guitar sounds with some bursts of acoustic

guitar in a Latin style which once again may hint to the title. The album closes with ‘Once Upon a
Time’ which is another chilled out groove.

Whilst there are hints of blues here this is not a blues album as such. The band conjure up a laid
back feel but don’t let that fool you, they are all fine competent musicians. There is a lot of similar
vibes across the album and at times it sounds like the band are in the studio jamming and they just

left the tape rolling. Whilst some of the chilled out moods are quite pleasant I feel this album just
drifts rather than sails.

Ged Wilson