Looking at the album cover one would think this was an album from the mid Sixties, and in many ways you would be totally correct, it’s just that it is a brand new album from someone who is obviously stuck in a time warp. Here we have an album all about feeling, all about emotional connection to the music and each musician, where nothing is rushed, and a live feel is everything. The PR company describe this as “folk/roots/Americana”, but what they are trying to say is that if ever an album invoked memories of classic The Band, well this is it. Brockley is a laid-back singer, sat at his kit, letting the music flow and breathe. Lots of acoustic guitar, Hammond Organ, slide guitar, this feels and sounds as if it was recorded totally live as there are little bits and pieces where a musician starts to come in and changes their mind, feeling it isn’t the right moment. It has been produced with an incredible amount of space and ambient sound, the music swells and breathes and doesn’t get cut off dead by the studio walls.
There may be a full band, but at some places it may just be a vibrant picked electric guitar and a voice soaked in reverb and restrained passion. It feels fragile, precious, as if this is all in the moment and with the slightest change it could all be gone. In a world where everything is rushed and instant, this is all about pulling up a chair, sitting down and living just for this. I rarely listen to music like this these days, and it was something of a shock when it came up next on my playlist, but it didn’t take me very long to understand this is something very special indeed. This is the third album from the Canadian, who has totally passed me by until now, and if like me you have never heard the name then now is the time to discover a simply wonderful album. Classic, timeless, Americana never sounded better.
Rating: 9/10
Links:
https://stevebrockley.com/
https://www.facebook.com/AfterlifeMusicVancouver/