Oh
Gosh! We are barely into 2016 and the Blues Gold Standard Flag has
been truly planted at the top of the hill. The new album 'Throw
Away Your Blues' from Kyla
Brox will
have you hunting around for words big enough to describe the impact
of this beautiful, beautiful piece of work. This is a serious quality
blues album conjured by a fabulous blues singer who, surrounded by
some stunning musicians, mainlines every word, every note straight
into your Blues Central.
If
you have skin prepare for goose bumps, if you have a heart prepare
for it to be uplifted and then perhaps broken. If you still have
hair, prepare for it to stand on end. If you have a spine it will
tingle and then some.... Ok, I'll stop there – but trust me,
without any shadow of a doubt, this will go down as one of the best
blues and soul vocal albums of the year.
The
very first track 'If You See Him' sets the bar at an incredibly high
standard. The opening line “If you see him tell him I'm sorry”,
sung unaccompanied, lets you know exactly where we are going with
this killer blues songstress and I defy you not to open your mind to
the grainy images of those mighty female blues singers of the past
that we all love and cherish so much. Like that distinguished blues
sisterhood, Kyla delivers sad, poignant, painful and heartfelt stuff.
She has you from the first note and you can't let go.... when you are
looking for a Track of the Year, this opening track will be on your
list.
There
are a number of tracks on here where our guide on this emotive
roller-coaster tour seems to offer a little self assurance..'Lifting
The Blues', 'Beautiful Day' and While We're Alone' are three superbly
crafted songs where it seems as though there is maybe a future and a
hope...but sadly, all three still leave us with the notion that maybe
the moment has gone and she is looking with hindsight into the mirror
and reflecting on times past. The last of these is given a magic lift
with some wistful guitar but with the next more upbeat track 'Choose
Me' the desperate plea in the lyric does nothing to dispel the
sadness.
The
writing throughout this big fourteen track album, provided by Kyla
herself with the addition of her two guitarists Danny Blomeley and
Paul Farr, is invested with the kind of powerful observations and
commentary on blues feelings that only a
female singer could deliver with authenticity. With Kyla we run the
gamut of all those signposts of relationships...being alone, being
desperate to be loved, being cheated on, getting over it, moving on
and still being in love more and more. There is a hint of resigned
pragmatism in a number of the tracks, particularly 'Ain't Got Time'
and 'Honestly Blues' which are two classics that hit dead centre in
the heart in a way that you quickly appreciate, only a woman can
deliver with effect. However, there is still hope lurking in the
background and, striking a familiar chord, there is the potent
'Change Your Mind' lyric where, even though rejected and
neglected, the singer lets us know, sadly, that she will still be
there if you should come back.
But
Hey - don't give up lady – and she doesn't. The fabulous rapid
track 'Run Our Home' has got some of the best 'screw-you' lyrics you
could ever hope for where Kyla, throwing in a bit of hot flute
playing, tells her lover she's outta there and he can pick up the
pieces. There is not a woman in the land who will not be up
and dancing to lines like 'you can't see past the end of your nose'
and the brilliant 'see if you can do what I do all on your
own'....oh, yes, left to the solar-plexus, right uppercut, knockout.
Piaf,
Lady Day, Etta...we all know that galaxy of voices who have that
extraordinary ability to imbue us publicly through their voice with
their depth of feeling, the nerve endings of their pain, joy and
disappointment and raise us up with a brave-faced look to the future.
This is an album that comfortably stands alongside that rich pantheon
of talent. It's called 'Throw Away Your Blues', but, as we all now
understand, It Ain't That Easy and here we get told why.
Everything
about this album is from the top drawer. The musicians and production
are full of elegance and light touch – (even the album design is
exquisite) and together they provide the perfect platform for a voice
that will move you, embrace you and leave you wanting more. Not many
can do that......
