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CD Review |
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Emily Breeze - The Penny Arcade
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| Emily
Breeze Profile |
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Review by Paul
Towler |
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Brushing the icicles off my burgeoning in-tray here at the Bristol
rocks news desk, our chapped lips numb from frostbite, the harsh
dystopian bleakness carving glacial scars into the snowbound
Bristolian skyline, what could be more welcomed (other than a
steaming hot cuppa-soup courtesy of the boss and an hour toasting by
the radiator) than this sizzling red hot album by Bristol's very own
punk-abilly hell-raiser Emily Breeze. |
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Firstly, anyone who name-checks Scott Walker and Hank Williams on
their press release gets an automatic gold star for good taste here
- you know this album is gonna be good before you even get the
wrapping off the case!
Emily Breeze and her brilliant band deliver an explosive hybrid of
octane fuelled punk come rockabilly contrasted by beautifully
restrained, heart yearning country. With a firm nod to history's
most maverick milestones - from traditional country to rock 'n'
roll, psychobilly to punk, Emily Breeze delivers a highly charged,
21st Centrury take on rock's volitile and dangerous past, a
roller-coaster ride of fiery excitement that would have most of
today's pubescent indie wannabes wetting their beds with fright.
Opener 'Monday's Right Hook' will excite punks and rockabilly fans
alike, but Emily Breeze isn't just about shock and awe. The classy
restraint of 'Matt Black and Chrome', a nimble finger-pickin'
country lullaby, and the brilliantly executed cover of the Hank
Williams classic 'Lost Highway' glazed with it's mouth-watering
pedal-steel accompliment shows that Emily's influences run far
deeper than your usual run-of-the-mill Stooges copyists.
Whilst the fast and dangerous side of this album will probably grab
the most immediate attention, there are just as many tastefully
restrained cuts here. Mellow they may be, but they still posses a
menacing notion that danger is still there, just around the next
chorus. It's the acoustic offerings where the strength and dynamics
of Emily's magnificent voice show at their best. Meanwhile,
somewhere between the two extremes, 'Money' shows a tamed,
radio-friendly edge to the danger, just when the time is right.
'The Penny Arcade' is released by Bristol based label Laser Ghost
Recordings in February. If you're looking for a warming antidote for
the ongoing winter chill, just be careful what you wish for. |
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