Elles Bailey, Road I Call Home - album review
With the Black Country braced for the release of our own blues darling Joanne Shaw Taylor's next album this Friday, this record provides a nice appetiser.
Bristol-based Elles Bailey is a DIY blues musician of a good calibre. On this, her sophomore record, she pulls off the difficult skill of being a British blues act and creating a product that sounds as crisp and clean as those regularly provided by the heavyweights from across the pond.
Bailey should hold her head up high with this highly personal record. While she had five years to perfect her 2017 hit debut Wildfire, this follow-up was put together in just 12 months as she toured its predecessor.
Touching upon many aspects of touring and being away from home - Elles racked up 97 gigs across the UK, Belgium, Holland, France, Greece, Germany and the USA last year - it has its fair share of anguish and heartbreak along the way.
It dabbles in folk, blues, country, all-out rock and even pop ballads. There is something here to please most.
The pop-blues of single What's The Matter With You drips with agitation and regret. Those sloshing guitars keep the song moving as Elles pours her delightful voice over the top. It's a slow burner of a track that will appeal to blues fans of all ages.
Opening number Hell Or High Water has an epic country feel to it - like the song that pops up in the closing credits of a modern Hollywood Western. Again, the song burns slowly from start to finish, promising a crashing finale which Elles confidently provides with the closing rendition of its big sound chorus.
There's some light rock in Little Piece Of Heaven - think of a strange duet between REM and Shania Twain and you'd get this. A foot-tapping chorus is thrown in to get people up at her shows.
The strange thing is the lyrics. Sometimes they can be cringeworthy and cliché. Which you wouldn't expect given writing credits go to Ivor Novello Award winner Roger Cook, Memphis and Nashville giant Bobby Wood, and The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach.
Get your head around that, though, and this is solid stuff from Elles and warms us up nicely for Friday.
Rating: 7/10
Elles Bailey plays at Birmingham's O2 Academy 3 tonight
