As a few of you know, every once in a while we get a look at a band from further affield. In this case Bicester down on the Oxfordshire territories. The name? The Clare Free band, a four piece fronted by the aforementioned lady herself on vocals and guitar. Clare Free and her band have been busy on a new album soon to be unveiled, but for now they’ve been supplying a few snippets with a demo of what’s to come.
Blues is very much what is on order from what we’ve heard, with a dash of country influence that pierces through with some southern vocal lilts. Pretty much what’s the standard for the band though the track has a bit of a kickstart to it and a a bit of a Texas vibe (as in the Glasgow rockers, not necessarily just the state), a hard poppy sound to it gives a promising slant of breathing some modern energy into the country/blues genre.
Kicking in with a Pink Floyyd strutt of a riff, the second track, “Please Don’t Say You Love Me” is obviously going in a very different direction and is sharp on all of it’s corners with a catching funk slant that carries on the modern blues twist, and it’s pretty refreshing to hear something supposedly “old fashioned” have a sassy punch added to it.
It’s also quite strange that despite the amount of bands we’ve seen and reviewed, there hasn’t been something down the country route, so Clare Free and co. are our first dive into the realm, but it’s not just a couple of southern influenced songs, there’s some clever blues guitar licks whipping around in there and the tracks are poles apart with some laid back rhythms and some sharp funk. And if that’s just the teaser, the full album should be something to look forward too.
Craig \m/
