I’m fairly lucky to have seen one of Blues Pills first UK shows, if not their very first, when in 2013 they played the Dingwalls in Camden third on the bill behind Scorpion Child and headliners Orchid (what a line-up that was). Despite vocalist Elin Larsson’s obvious nerves, and the fact that wunderkind guitarist Dorian Sorriaux looked like at 8pm he was up well past his bedtime, it was a cracking set, and I promised myself I would keep track of the band. Well, in the years that have followed the music has flowed, the confidence grown, and the band played to ever larger and more rapturous audiences when they came to the UK. Since 2016’s excellent ‘Lady in Gold’ however, the band has seen a massive upheaval in terms of Sorriaux leaving and reinventing himself as an acoustic balladeer, and writer and bassist Zack Anderson has swapped four strings for six, and 2020 sees the somewhat Covid delayed ‘Holy Moly!’ making a much-anticipated appearance.

Opening track and lead single ‘Proud Woman’ secures Larsson’s place in the pantheon of great vocalists with a song that is simultaneously modern in its message whilst sounding like it could be a companion piece to Aretha Franklin’s classic ‘Respect’, and if you didn’t expect a writer for Ave Noctum to be referencing Sixties Motown, well, I’m happy to both surprise you, and hopefully widen your tastes. My only concern from the first track was the restrained nature of the guitars, making me fear that Anderson would not be able to fill the gap left by the personnel change. Fortunately, that concern was washed away by ‘Low Road’ where he plays with a fire and passion every bit as dominant as the vocals, albeit the solo is more restrained and riff based than earlier offerings from their departed guitar slinger, maybe a sign of his more rhythm based background. Talking of rhythm, their new member Kristoffer Schander melds seamlessly with the drums of André Kvarnström, driving the music forward like a well-honed unit.

Not all is fire and fury though, and ‘California’ delivers a far more gentle ballad that could have been played at the original Woodstock, rather than having the chance to be played at 2021’s Download in Donnington. It really is a timeless number, and one that deserves widespread mainstream media attention, something that Blues Pills gets far more of in Europe than in the UK. Talking of “timeless” ‘Rhythm In The Blood’ is one of those tracks that could have been belted out back in the day by Janis Joplin, whilst follow up ‘Dust’ is a dirty slice of hip swinging Blues, redolent of underground clubs filled with cigarette smoke and the smell of watered down drinks. Hell, it is barely one degree of sleaze from accompanying some poor tired lass grinding against a pole to an audience of dirty rain mac wearing punters. There is not a single bad track on the album, be it the hypnotic beauty of ‘Wish I’d Known’, the Blues stomp of ‘Bye Bye Birdie’, or the mellow closer ‘Longest Lasting Friend’ a simple duet of vocals and guitar with a refrain of “you and me to this better end”; maybe I’m reading too much into the lyrics and use of just the two remaining original members of the band, but it does come off as having its own special poignancy.

‘Holy Moly!’ is a fantastic addition to the catalogue of Blues Pills work, and one that should only gain them more and more fans across the whole musical spectrum. My only disappointment is that such is their quality and appeal that when they are allowed to hit the road again, I’ll not be able to selfishly catch them at the sort of tiny venues I first saw them live, but damn if they don’t deserve success with the quality of their music.

(9/10 Spenny)

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