A summer record in the middle of January; it can have its
plusses as the long nights of a Northern Hemisphere winter bed in. While I will
always associate a hazy, jingly jangly sound with that of the warmer months,
there is certainly no hardship to be acquainted with the brand new record from
Muscle Shoals region based outfit Belle Adair any time of the year. TUSCUMBIA for those not too au fait
with the Shoals area geography is a city (a loose affinity to that word) close to
where this band operates. It is the latest release on Single Lock Records, a
growing label responsible for excellent albums from Nicole Atkins, Dylan
LeBlanc and John Paul White over the last year or so. The sound domain of this
record is a lock into the description that greeted this piece in the opening
sentences and exceedingly excels at it.
The bonus of having an album-defining track up top has long
been championed here and ‘Get Away’
does the job for this, the second album from core four-piece combo Belle Adair.
Plenty of harmonious ‘oohs and ahs’ blend into the twangy jangly guitars then
emerge to be omnipresent throughout the eleven tracks that form this
forty-minute album. While this sound is not what you would expect from, both the
area and FAME recording studio where this album saw the light of day, there is
certainly a classic American tinge to it, if not necessary pure Americana.
Although, association with late 60s California is likely to be referred to, us
Brits have perfected the sound, noticeably in the 90s Brit-Pop explosion and
more recently in indie bands such as Co-Pilgrim and The Dreaming Spires. Any
fans of these three strands of music are likely to find the contents of
TUSCUMBIA agreeable.
Repetition is a key to whether you grasp this album or not,
and in a rare occurrence for much of the reviewed material here, diversity does
not have a major role to play. The vocals reside somewhere in cumulus nimbus territory
and allow plenty of room for the multitude of gently strummed guitar riffs to
flourish. One certainty is that once you fall under its spell, this record will
be very hard to shake off; surely not a too shabby trait to have.
The Muscle Shoals area has a rich history of bearing the fruit of music from humble backwater surroundings and projecting it around the world. Whether TUSCUMBIA does the same for Belle Adair remains to be seen, but markets do spring up for this type of music and plenty across the pond will be wooed. Conclusively, this album evolves as a swimmingly good record to kick back to and enjoy whatever the season. Mildly revivalist, yet forever appealing.