EVERYDAY MIRACLE Brock Davis (Raintown Records) *****
When it comes to songs about life, about things close to the heart, few do it better than Brock Davis. Everyday Miracle is a blend of country/ folk/ Americana with songs that follow a sensibility he jokingly calls “agnostic gospel”. It’s a record of hope and belief that everything is going to turn out okay… a poignant message in these turbulent times.
“It’s not about religion or music genre” Davis says of his philosophy, “but there’s a beauty and power in wrestling with the mystery of life, and in the yearning for there to be something bigger than ourselves” something I’ve been contemplating of late. “I’m fascinated by songs about a greater purpose in life” he continues, “that try to answer the essential question of why we are here.” I’m certain that’s why Everyday Miracle resonates so deeply with me, even more so than his previous disc A Song Waiting To Be Sung.
If you need to label this ‘country’ fits as well as anything, but not like the stuff being played on the radio today. There’s a straight up honesty to these songs that feels autobiographical and an emotional power that makes them far more than just the ‘wallpaper’ that so much music seems to be today. I called his previous album “a combination of intelligent, deeply personal, emotionally honest songs” which applies to Miracle even moreso. It’s a great sounding album too, produced by Brock along with Grammy Award-winning engineer Zach Allen (Keb’ Mo’, Christone “Kingfish” Ingram), who also mixed it.
“Many artists and writers buy into the idea that the best songs come from a broken heart” Brock says. “While pain can certainly produce a beautiful creation, so can love. You can create from a place of hope, wonder and love- and it seems to me that creation is a true everyday miracle.” Gotta stop typing now so I can listen to this again; you should spin it too.
HOT TRACKS: Rain Falling On The Water, My Promise To You, The Warrior
THE SHIMMERING DIVIDE Jesse Waldman & Marc L’Esperance (independent) *****+
In the 34+ years I’ve been writing album reviews, having a record take my breath away is a rare yet most welcome experience; it just happened again. The Shimmering Divide, the second offering from these two Vancouver musicians, is a thoughtful, gorgeous collection of introspective, vulnerable songs that really take you on a journey.
The Shimmering Divide is languid, gentle, unassuming alt-folk sketches of everyday life and relationships, the likes of which I’ve not heard since Barney Bentall’s The Inside Passage in 2009. This album moves at a relaxed and settled pace, which makes it ridiculously easy to roll yourself into tunes like Come To Leave, or any of the others for that matter. The experience reminds of reading a good book that you’re so into, the world around you disappears.
Waldman and L’Esperance have been performing together live and in the studio for nearly 20 years. Marc, a multi-instrumentalist, was co-producer and engineer on The Shimmering Divide as he was on 2017’s Mansion Full Of Ghosts. The sound here is sparse and unadorned yet somehow gorgeous with Waldman’s evocative fingerpicking guitar and delicate touches such as the cello on Invisible, the strings on Footsteps, and Megan Alford’s harmony vocals on Come To Leave and End Of The Tunnel. This album is the very definition of intimate, which is startling given that Jesse and Marc were separated in 2020 during much of the song construction during the you-know-what. They collaborated virtually, sending ideas and demos back and forth, finally coming face to face in the studio in early 2022 to complete the album in a final surge of inspiration.
On those nights where I find it hard to get to sleep, I can picture putting on The Shimmering Divide and having it lead me away to that peaceful place of sweet dreams and hope. This is also the album I will put on when I need to be assured that everything will be okay. If I had to stop writing album reviews today, having had The Shimmering Divide slip quietly into my life, I would be content.
HOT TRACKS: Journal Of An Escape Artist, Invisible, Stumble From Grace
MEGALOMANIUM II Eclipse (Frontiers) ****
These Swedish rockers have studied the hard rock playbook and come up with a sizzling new album. Megalomanium II is loaded with big riffs, massive hooks and heroic melodies that sink their teeth into you straight away. This is hard rock/ metal the way it was meant to be.
“This band is on a continuous journey trying to find new avenues to explore” says guitarist Erik Martensson. “Megalomanium II is probably closer to what people mostly associate Eclipse with. It’s filled to the brim with large choruses, beautiful melodies and some amazing guitar playing- I’m totally unbiased by the way” he notes with a chuckle. Not unlike Def Leppard, Eclipse is a band that transcends genres; hard rock sure, but with a keen sense of pop melodic structures, despite stealing Kiss’s Tears Are Falling riff for the opening track Apocalypse Blues.
If you’re just hearing of Eclipse now, you might want to note that they’ve opened for bands like Aerosmith, My Chemical Romance and Def Leppard, as well as playing festivals like Wacken, Alcatraz and Summer Breeze. You might prefer your rock & roll dirtier and more unruly, but for straight up power and attention to melody that makes an impact on the very first pass, Megalomanium II is definitely in your wheelhouse. Over 100 million have checked out their stuff on streaming services, so people are paying attention; lots of ‘em too.
Boldly produced and forceful Megalomanium II sounds and feels terrific when you crank it up, even in my dinky little Ford Escape, so get your hands on this and BLAST it!
HOT TRACKS: Until The War Is over, Apocalypse Blues, Dive Into You
POCKET CHANGE Andy Peake (Big Little Records) *****
This is one of the grooviest discs you’ll likely ever hear, thanks to Andy Peake’s drumming. Pocket Change is his 2nd album, following up 2021’s Mood Swings and it’s a master class in musicianship- staying in the pocket in particular. Cool tunes- 7 of the 10 written or co-written by Peake. He’s attracted world class talent once again and the results are outstanding.
Pocket Change is a gaggle of lyrically clever tunes that exist somewhere in between blues, roots and jazz. Pocket Change was beautifully produced and engineered by Andy (vocal, drums, percussion) and he’s joined by a bunch of wonderfully talented musicians whose bona fides involve a number of acts you’d recognize instantly. Groove and soul underline the whole thing, what with Peake’s lengthy career backing a number or artists before he turned his attention to engineering and production. Mood Swings saw him realizing a longtime dream of coming out from behind the kit to do a solo album, and he was surely pleased with those results because this wonderful adventure continues with Pocket Change.
While I enjoy and admire powerhouse rock drummers like Bonham, Peart and Paice, Andy Peake has muscled his way into my ‘best of’ list of skinsmen. He has a great, deft touch with every note well placed and each musician here responding in just the right way as he drives each number with uncommon skill. Too many top flight musicians involved in this album to list here, but on the whole they sound like they’ve been playing together forever on any given track. They really rock it up on Samsong about his dog, containing the line “you can talk to God when you look in his eyes” and the album opener As Good As It Gets has a sort of Santana blues feel to it.
Pocket Change is an outstanding piece of work with delightful surprises around every corner.
HOT TRACKS: As Good As It Gets, Samsong, So Many Drummers
PAPILLON Lazarus Heights (independent) ****+
It’s the second time out for this Anglo-French melodic band. Papillon is a beguiling mix shimmering instrumentation and bold lyrical imagery, not unlike early Tea Party or The Cult. It might sound pretentious to some, but dig into the lyrical imagery and enjoy some rockin’ pop.
Lazarus heights is singer/ guitarist Dick Grisdale, drummer Jeff Gautier, Paul Mouradian on keys along with bassist Simon Pearson. Originally formed in 2007 by Grisdale, the band steadily built their profile in the Dordogne region of South West France, with Gautier joining behind the kit in 2020. There is a progressive element to these songs and with Dick’s voice being compared to the likes of Jim Morrison and Nick Cave, they’re liable to take you just about anywhere. A cut like Dry Martini is a little out there musically and lyrically but with LH that’s part of the attraction, part of the fun. The guitar solos have muscle but they’re to the point, serving the songs themselves as opposed to unwanted showing off.
Aside from Grisdale’s emotive songwriting you’ll really respond to the production here too… the instruments are separated and well defined, plus it’s been a while since I’ve heard drums recorded this well. There’s also something about Grisdale’s charismatic singing that grabs you by the shoulders and just won’t let you go. In terms of influences I’m hearing all kinds of things in here but predominantly British pop/rock and New Wave stuff too with an 80’s feel… not my favorite sound back in the day- I was a rock snob then- but I’m sure responding to it now.
Quirky and adventurous yet straightforward at the same time. Papillon is pretty cool.
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HOT TRACKS: Waterfall, Dry Martini, The Joker
PARADISE BREAKDOWN Randall Bramblett (Strolling Bones Records) *****
Called “one of the South’s most lyrical and literate songwriters, Randall Bramblett has just released a stunner of a solo album. Paradise Breakdown is his 13th and finds him taking stock of the past and present, taking the contradictions in stride and turning them into beautiful music.
“I’ve had the realization that this particular life isn’t gonna go on forever” Randall observes. “it’s true that everything ends, but things are really beautiful too. I’m healthy, I’m happy, I have a lot to be grateful for.” Aside from a lengthy solo career, Bramblett is also noted for his collaborations with Gregg Allman and Sea Level. Well he IS from Athens Georgia (home of R.E.M.), so the music of the south is in his bones.
A description I read of RB’s music that really rings true calls it “the kind of electrified soul-funk and dive bar R&B that feels raw and broken in, rooted in the storytelling chops of a man whose spent much of the past half century in the recording studio and on the road.” Intrigued aren’t you, perhaps fascinated as well- you should be. The groove on a song like Throw My Cane Away simply will not be denied, it’s like 70’s southern R&B/ Soul that makes you want to move. His voice is a gravelly baritone that can bend its way around a melody like nobody’s business.
Paradise Breakdown is about love, loss, joy, disappointment, nostalgia and mortality, and if you can’t see yourself in these songs then you just aren’t looking hard enough. Before today I didn’t know who Randall Bramblett was, but now I’m sure as hell paying close attention.
HOT TRACKS: Fire Down in Our Souls, Down In The Wilderness, Somewhere In The Sky
