lostcitysoulep2DUNDEE LIVE - BANDS TO WATCH!!
LOST CITY SOUL - Sink Or Swim/Favour The Brave CD-EP
Technically, the songs I'm about to review are not all on the same EP, but if you refer back to my review of the debut Lost City Soul EP and combine it with this, you have the full picture of what this remarkable band have achieved with just a handful of tracks.
"The Groove" carries on where Alan Turner's old band The Rise, left off, and it doesn't take a great deal of imagination to realise that, had he led that band his way, this song would surely have been the result. Against an almost driving boogie of a beat, "Gimme Shelter"-esque Roling Stones backing harmonies, stuttering, thickly textured guitar riffing and pumping bass, Alan's vocals stride through the verses into a giveaway chorus as just under three minutes of undoubted fun, spark into your life.
Forward in time, and the later composition is "Sink Or Swim", emerging into existence via a flowing string intro swiftly joined by more of that stuttering, jangly, ringing guitar, thudding deep drums and bass undercurrent. Above this Alan's solid yet brooding vocal comes in and flies as the whole thing stops for a micro-second before the band as one, drive ahead into the heady chorus that rises like a flame inthe night as Alan's multi-tracked vocal lifts the thing off to perfection, the chrous so memorable you're singing along with it the second time round as it drops back to another verse before taking off once again, all set to a backdrop of solid rhythms and rhythm guitar. A red hot lead guitar break provides the icing on the cake before they head back into another round of choruses, once again, that anthemic feel so prevalent before it ends as it began with strings and bass throb.
Forward a little more in time and we have "Favour The Brave", a shade under four minutes of immaculate songwriting and arranging where passion and emotion pour out like lava from a volcano as a song with deep emotion, stirring anthem, breathtaking dynamics and one of the most ulifting choruses ever unleashed on the Dundee music scene, just flare into life and take you inexorably along for the ride. The depth of musicianship is jaw-droping, while Alan's vocal is just on fire and then some as this huge tidal wave of drums, bass, guitars and that towering vocal, deliver a song that has a feel-good factor which is positively off the scale, and a song that is absolute perfection.
A bonus track comes in the form of "In HarmonY (8-Track Demo)" which is three minutes of Turner on his own, as a sea of lead and multi-tracked vocals deliver a song set to just subtle ringing guitars, delicate acoustic backdrop and a deep textural undercurrent, raw emotion pouring out as less becomes more and another gorgeous chorus makes you think that if this is a demo, what the heck is this man capable of producing in the future!!!
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