Following the release of 2 successful EPs during 2015, Oxfordshire 5 piece Little Brother Eli release their debut album Cold Tales kicking and screaming into the world.
I’m not sure of the musical heritage of Oxfordshire outside of Radiohead, but I suggest the amount of bluesy, garage rock bands can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Little Brother Eli make a great place to start. Think of a melding of Zeppelin riffs, Black Keys energy and chuck in a bit of Biffy, and you’ve got LBE sussed out. Oh, and do yourself a favour, listen with the sound turned up on a stereo rather than headphones, and open the windows for that authentic festival experience because that’s surely where this band are destined to belong.
Anthem opening track Oceans and the equally sing along Dreams are surely destined to be live favourites with the sweat soaked front rows singing back the lyrics to the band while they get on with the business of the downright dirty, filthy riffing.
Roll Away changes pace (slightly) with its lovely verse and chorus before again descending into damn heavy riffage, whilst keeping the mood laid back.
Gold starts with acoustic guitar and wouldn’t be out of place if you heard this on the back porch of a Louisiana homestead backing onto the Mississippi. Southern boogie, courtesy of the home counties.
Title track, and album closer Cold Tales showcases the fabulous vocal skills of Alex Grew. At just over 5 minutes, its the longest track on the album and seems to nicely sum up the collective 9 tracks that have passed previously. It acts as a Sunday morning hangover track, counterpointing the Saturday night adrenaline soaked previous cuts.
Where on earth the band get their inspiration from is irrelevant if they are making music this good. Who cares that they are from middle England, and not the Southern States. These guys already stand alongside much more experienced and established acts as those previously mentioned. They’ve got riffs, they’ve got balls, they’ve got attitude and most importantly, they have got some damn fine tunes. This is a band going places.
9/11
Keith @kjsmith4082
