Label: Nuclear Blast Records
Release date: August 21, 2020
Production: Blues Pills
Album length: 41.30 min
Genre: Blues/Psychadelic Rock
Rating: 9.0/10
Blues Pills are a success story. They warm up the good old blues and rock’n’roll stuff. Always have. From record to record they get more and more convincing at it. Seriously. They’re not reinventing the wheel, but whatever they take on grabs you and takes over. Because in everything they do, simply put, they’re spotlessly honest, sparkling and real. One of the musical postulates says that a woman’s soul can be considerably more piercing, striking and captivating than a man’s once it surrenders to rock and roll and knows how to wield it. Just look at Janis Joplin. And that certainly goes for a person from another time, another place and another generation. No less heartfelt and devoted: the Swede Elin Larsson. Next to her vocal presence, the other members of Blues Pills are really just “extras.” Okay, let me rein it in, even though that last sentence isn’t far from the truth. An exceptional vocalist, passionate and commanding, without equal. A real discovery! Yes, and that was written before, and it’s been written again this time.
Blues Pills are not (any longer) beginners. Far from it. They’ve grown up. Yet on »Holy Moly!« they sound as if they’d only just started. They’re some of the best that can come out of a garage, and in 2020 they sound retro and maximally nostalgic, bluesy and pouty, loaded with crackling oscillation and mic feedback that, like a balmy glaze, enriches the glaring guitar phrasing, contrasted by a flirty rhythmic groove gallop. It’s a vibration of exceptional depth and, as said, with Elin Larsson’s venomously fired-up vocals conducting the whole thing, which give the charm of Blues Pills a proper rocket engine.
You’d think the good stuff ended when guitarist Dorian Sorriaux left the band. Nope. Sure, the guitar at times isn’t as refined and the fine ornaments woven into the arrangements of past works are gone, but let’s be honest. Did Blues Pills ever really strive for a particularly fancy sound, one that would be over-polished? No! Stripped-down rawness always ruled. The good old »reverb« is here, »stereo chorus« too (e.g. Longest Lasting Friend), and with that crackling »overdrive« you don’t need anything more! Whenever the talk turns to Blues Pills.
So a lot has happened for the band since 2016. They built their own studio in the Swedish countryside. And Blues Pills remain loyal to their sworn allegiance to analog sound. They use vintage makes of instruments and vintage recording approaches. And that’s the best way. Because it’s evergreen and timeless, an approach you simply can’t miss with, and with which your music never surprises so much as completely captivates the listener. Zack Anderson moved from bass to guitar and is a rather different guitarist from Dorian Sorriaux. Kristoffer Schander became the new member of the band.
For all that primal, raw, unbridled neighing energy, there’s also a cunning woven into the story on the other side, which comes from Swedish perfectionist cunning (three quarters of the band are of Swedish origin). The intro opens with a combination of clean-sounding guitars, which may come as a surprise, even though Proud Woman is an extremely hungry, predatory track, but still. From Blues Pills you expect an opener on the new record that burns uncompromisingly. In short, Blues Pills are detail people. As debauched, primal and garage-seasoned as the album sounds, and, if you like, retro-sounding, hippie and psychedelic, there’s quite a lot of conciseness built into the arrangements as well. You have to keep in mind that it’s 2020, not the era in which the music that inspires Blues Pills was made. So they have to resort to cunning tricks for recreating the retro sound, since they never breathed and lived in the time when it was current, even though they’re huge fans and worshippers of that musical legacy. Wish I’d Known owes at least a passing thank-you to Peter Green and his Albatross, at least as far as dictating the opening phrase goes. So on this album Blues Pills tried things they hadn’t before. The “trick” just described is only one on the album. Tattooed under the skin as psychedelic blues and rhythm and blues, this time around Blues Pills served up a bit more flirting with funk, as in the grabby opener Proud Woman, Kiss My Past Goodbye and Bye Bye Birdy. Then there are California, and also Song from a Mourning Dove, the longest track, just before the end, which are softer and more subtle and hint that Elin is a big fan of Janis Joplin’s persona and work. Especially as far as California goes, since in her vocal performance it works like a tribute to the iconic singer. Then there’s the truly furious Low Road, where Elin explodes in every direction and where almost tribal drums add all the ferocity to the phrases and the song. Dust is a fantastic ballad. A true bluesy waltz in which Elin Larrson’s vocals glow in a soul hairdo, with special intensity.
The album is really fun and grabs you instantly. Because, simply put, it’s so honest. It’s played on the principle of a live performance in the studio. Three Swedes and an American are certainly precise, yet concise enough not to overdo the precision this time, since they manage to recreate that catchy production vibe, which vividly ties in with the vibe of this kind of album released at the turn from the sixties to the seventies.
With their third album in a nine-year career, Blues Pills have served up their greatest degree of creative variety and insightful freshness. They stay true to their tradition, but on the new album they tried new things and worked them very skillfully into their style, which has thus been upgraded artistically and matured. In the case of a retro-sounding style that can burn out quickly, the lineup change was hugely welcome, and the new chemistry in the band truly ignites phenomenally. Elin has once again delivered an exceptional vocal performance that gives you goosebumps nonstop for a good 40 minutes, and the band plays with dedicated ferocity and exceptional intensity. »Holy Moly!« counts as one of the most honest achievements out there, one that will win over everyone who is at least a little moved by the magic of rock and roll. The old farts who will realize with this Blues Pills album that Woodstock is still going, and all the younger followers who have, instead of a stone, a heart wide open to the primal magic of rock and roll. The album comes across as “childishly naive,” because it speaks to you with virginally sincere enthusiasm, even though experience and mileage stand behind it. That very fact makes it clear that with this record Blues Pills have grown one more notch more mature and seasoned. That’s why »Holy Moly!« is a step forward and upward. A work of artistic upgrade! The four-year gap between the new album and its predecessor »Lady in Gold« also played an important part in this.
This is an album where rock’n’roll women call the shots, and all you can do is bow down. And with the album »Holy Moly!« Elin has become a true queen in this masterpiece! »Holy Moly!« is an album that will hold you firmly hypnotized for 41 minutes, and you’ll spin it again and again and again. With it, Blues Pills have grown into top-notch musical craftsmen. In a first-rate way they combine the musical evergreen-ness that was born on this planet a good five decades ago with a modern perception of rock and blues that boils in their veins.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Proud Woman
2. Low Road
3. Dreaming My Life Away
4. California
5. Rhythm In The Blood
6. Dust
7. Kiss My Past Goodbye
8. Wish I’d Known
9. Bye Bye Birdy
10. Song From A Mourning Dove
11. Longest Lasting Friend
Line-up:
Elin Larrson – vocals
Zack Anderson – guitar
Kristoffer Schander – bass
André Kvarnström – drums, backing vocals
Guest musicians:
Erik Harrström – piano on tracks 4 and 10, string arrangements on track 10
Rajmund Follman – cello, arrangements
Fredrik Hulthe – viola
Tino Fjeldli – violin
Jesper Lindell – backing vocals
Tom Eriksson – backing vocals
Roya Sarvestani – lyrics for track 9
