I’ve covered a couple of albums of late that are so heavily entrenched in various genres of American music that you would swear blind the bands involved were actually from the States. The first was the excellent Bookhouse Boys album and the second is the third album from Hey Negrita entitled ‘You Can Kick’. Steeped in old traditions of Americana with hefty tinges of age old country if like me you are one of the uninitiated you would be hard pushed to believe the band actually hail from London. Its only when someone spells this out to you that you start to hear shades of British influence that are reminiscent of early seventies Rolling Stones.
The album itself is something of a moribund affair. But then that is what exponents of this genre do best. Themes and issues of darkness and despair are peppered throughout the songs with vocalist/songwriter Felix Bechtolsheimer’s dour gravel tinged ramblings framed more than adequately amidst the mournful wailing guitars. How very apt, and I’m told that compared to some of their earlier material this collection is a decidedly cheery affair.
For me the album took a while to get going, tracks such as ‘Room Service’ did I confess leave me a little cold but if you give the album a little time things do start to warm through a little and by the time you hit the rail road shuffle rhythm of tracks like ‘Go Again’ and ‘Lies’ you begin to appreciate the musicianship involved in the album.
I’ll confess this is not something I would usually consider to my taste but given a little perseverance the listener can mine some enjoyable moments from this collection. The album is out now and the band are playing London, Waterrats on September 16th and I suspect they will be something of a hot prospect live.
