The Fruitful Earth - Rising Sun (Big Peach Records)
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| The Fruitful Earth - Rising Sun |
Release Date: 28th April 2014
This was hugely unexpected which
is always a good thing as predictability is the death of invention. The
Fruitful Earth are essentially a trio formed around the vocal and piano talents
of one Sarah Blair and the album starts with 'Firebird' which acts as though
it's going to be an experimental neo-classical jazz adventure before gliding
effortlessly in to a late Beatles meets prime Bowie pop tune. Blair's
beautifully languid style is again evidence on 'Sun' but on 'Honey Bee' she
takes things to a higher level and stops teasing the ivories, preferring to
make hot, sticky love to those keys in the most soulful way possible. It would
be lazy to compare this to the music of Tori Amos (woman with a piano blah blah
blah) when actually The Fruitful Earth are somewhere fun between the Ben Folds
Five, David Bowie, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Neil Young - 'Up All Night' being a great
example of this blend as well as the rag'n'roll of 'Natural High' which does
what Joss Stone has been trying to approach for years with ease and style.
As you might expect, 'Rolling
Free' is an inspirationally emotive song that has the sensitivity of an Indigo
Girls tune and more than a nod to country music as those rich key notes lay
thickly over the simple but perfectly placed drum beat. And then there's
'Shake'. 'Shake' is a song that deserves to be the theme tune to an awesome 70s
cop show featuring great cars, cool hair and go-go dancers in every episode who
work in a club called Shake but solve crimes in their spare time. This song is
Hendrix on the piano and Tina on vocal which is pretty much all you need to
know. If you've got in late after a night out at Shake then the tune you want
to wake up to is 'Sweet Music' which is full of warm, seductive tones and, more
importantly, vocals that are aural version of a warm cup of coffee - comforting
and invigorating in equal measure. Now, you could be forgiven for thinking that
this is an American record but a song called 'Ford Cortina' soon corrects your
misgivings and takes you on a nostalgia trip for old cars that have
personalities of their very own. The album finishes with an epic song that has
a title which I surprised is not used more, quite simply this is 'Love'. The
hypnotic, Lennon-esque piano melody and shuffling drums build slowly and
purposefully until there is an all-out blues jam at the end. These guys are
seriously talented musicians and songwriters but, most importantly, they have
enough soul to feel every note they churn out which is what makes this such an
awe inspiring album. Gotta get me a copy of this for the car...
More information: http://www.thefruitfulearth.com/
Live Dates:
1st May - Album Launch @ Servant Jazz Quarters, Dalston
3rd May - The Gladstone, Borough
6th May - The Pelton Arms, Greenwich