The transcendent nature of music is at full force when a
listener in suburban UK hooks up with a sound spawning out of Decatur Illinois.
International horizons vanish in this digital age as good music meanders to
respectful homes while disregarding boundaries. For the third time in three
years a record release by Ashley Riley has floated into a virtual world of a UK
blogger and morphed into a satisfying sense of reality. This time the music is
in the form of a self-released seven track EP titled CAN’T LET YOU GO with its
dusky undertones blending into a blissful state of buoyant twang and
melancholic soul.
From start to finish, Ashley and her band have created a
body of music deep in character and rich in freedom as the sound veers in an
Americana/alt-country direction. Weeping guitars and vocals to suit give the
record a multi-sensory effect revealed in the achingly good opener ‘Lonely’ and the follow on title track ‘Can’t Let You Go’. The adjective
ethereal can be over used in music reviews, but make room for one more
placement when describing ‘Tell Me Why’.
A redeeming feature of this record is the way it thrives on
a multitude of smooth gear changes. Mid track ‘Country Song’ unravels as a springy effort while the pace picks up
significantly as we move into ‘Wait a
Minute’. Throughout, the nifty guitar work meets approval adding a vibrant aspect
to the proceedings in places.
The origin of this release was a desire to commit to record
a mixture of songs left off the last studio album THROUGH THE THIN and others
lingering around homeless for a number of years. Far from being the scraps,
they evolve into a precious entity challenging the listener to a multiple of
repeat plays.
www.ashleyriley.com
