A DIFFERENT THREAD – EP REVIEW

A Different Thread – High Time EP 
A Different Thread - High Times EP


Release Date: Out Now

Lichfield. Not necessarily the hot bed of musical talent you might expect the sound of delicate genius to come from but then I heard A Different Thread and my perceptions of Lichfield changed. Join me on this journey, won’t you? The trio open with ‘Cherry Tree’ and it’s a slow, lumbering country folk number that you just need to close your eyes to listen to. Closed? Good, now picture a warm, still afternoon in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains with a wooden stoop, a banjo, a harmonica, a fiddle and just enough energy to pick out a tune and sing a ditty or two. On ‘Long in the Tooth’, the band take the pace down another notch if that’s possible to swoon and lament as the candles are puffed out and the doors locked tight for the evening. Sad, sweet and completely enveloping.

Things start to kick up on ‘Sweet Elizabeth’ as a low, grumbling Cello groan is met by the forlorn and slightly angry acoustic notes which suggests there is a storm brewing on the horizon but despite all the threat it never quite cracks the sky wide open. ‘High Time’ makes perfect use of some beautiful finger picking courtesy of Robert Jackson along with the vocal harmonies of Jackson and bandmate Alicia Best – it’s genuinely beautiful. Finally, there’s a knees-up awaiting at the end with ‘Banjo Tune’ that I am seriously considering having as my alarm such is it’s jaunty and generally uplifting sense of fun. So, preconceptions changed and Lichfield firmly added to my musical map but you have to wonder how so much Americana managed to worm its way in to a trio based just north of Birmingham.


Live Dates:

14th October – The Guildhall, Lichfield
10th November – George IV, Lichfield
17th November – The Greyhound Inn, Lichfield

1st December – The George Tavern, London

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