BRANDON ISAAC – HERE ON EARTH
2013 – Self
Released
Sparse, heartfelt, highly skilled guitar playing and an appealing raw melodicism to the vocals that beautifuly emote these excellent self written and hugely atmospheric modern blues songs. That just about sums up this terrific album in one sentence but there is so much more that can be added to really do the album justice. It is not an evocation of the original rural blues of eight or nine decades ago and certainly doesn’t try to be, instead dragging the old style into the twenty first century and updating it for the times but without ever losing sight of the genres place in history from whence it came.
This is a Terrific album of mainly acoustic blues, with sparse instrumentation, raw, evocative but melodic vocals and some tremendous songs. Some of those songs bleed into a nice jazziness to bring an excellent air of versatility and variation to the music of this talented Canadian bluesman. He has a masterly guitar technique and uses a variety of guitar sounds to bring a nice diversity to proceedings. He is one of these talented bluesmen that can’t really have lived the blues life of the old time greats but as in the case of an artist such as John Hammond he has a real grip of and feel for the genre. It helps that he is such a talented guitarist who has a playing style that evokes the rawness of some of the greats and he doesn’t make the mistake, as some do, of trying to dirty the sound up by playing too many notes. He just does what is necessary for the song rather than trying to lose the music in any virtuoso histrionics, although undoubtedly he could if he wanted to.
The songs were all written by Brandon and cover a variety of subject matter, always with a powerful depth of feeling, but conversely with a sparse easy going control. His excellent, expressive vocal style ensures this is an album that no one is ever going to tire of as is his tremendous guitar playing that is supplemented by his harmonica, foot percussion, kazoo and jug! A virtual one man band were it not for the help of Keith Picot on upright bass, Ed White on drums on tracks 4,6, and 10 whilst Daniel Lapp plays cornet on track 3 and fiddle on track 10. Despite the already mentioned sparseness of the instrumentation there is always enough variety to give this tremendous recording a nice feeling of diversity. Although his blues are as good as anyone around at the moment he could also end up being thought of as a talented jazz singer thanks to his control, depth of feeling and his ability to make it seem he is in many ways improvising. There is often a light jazzy feeling throughout this album that blends beautifully with his blues, bringing an unusual but highly listenable and individual sense to proceedings.
The album opens up with Jim O’ Jim an excellent easy going blues travelling story. His evocative vocal, guitar and harmonica gives the song a nice sparse, spacy feel that sets the scene for the remainder of this excellent album. There is more skilled harmonica playing on All Night Long a tale of abandonment by his lover, on a song that has an easy going tempo and feel despite the fact that his vocals do genuinely evoke a sense of desperation. City Lights is what the title infers, a song about the city but one that actually does have an urban blues feel with chugging guitar and soulful harmonies from Ed White, contrasting with the lovely accordion sound on the following song Diana Was Her Name. The accordion is accompanied by only his guitar and vocal on a tale that has a virtually perfect easy going comfortable feel on the story of a man smitten by his love for Dianna! On Best You Can there is the lovely sound of a dobro on another easy going example of heartfelt blues with a mellow hugely confident feel that as with all of the other songs on the album exhibits the tremendous skill and the comfort that he feels in this genre. Brandons vocal on Oh Virginia, a hugely impressive song, really blends deep blues with a light jazziness that is supported by his always impressive guitar and harmonica playing.
Brandon Isaak is a tremendously talented singer, songwriter, guitar and harmonica player within the blues idiom. The fact that he sometimes spills over into a jazziness serves to reiterate his talent and his natural feel for this music. Up until now he has flown under the radar in the U.K, but it’s albums such as this one that should ensure that if not a household name, his profile will be raised to a level that is central on the radar and ensures a high degree of popularity and decent sales. If you have any feeling at all for the blues, buy this album. You won’t hear many, if any, better this year!
http://www.brandonisaak.ca/
Sparse, heartfelt, highly skilled guitar playing and an appealing raw melodicism to the vocals that beautifuly emote these excellent self written and hugely atmospheric modern blues songs. That just about sums up this terrific album in one sentence but there is so much more that can be added to really do the album justice. It is not an evocation of the original rural blues of eight or nine decades ago and certainly doesn’t try to be, instead dragging the old style into the twenty first century and updating it for the times but without ever losing sight of the genres place in history from whence it came.
This is a Terrific album of mainly acoustic blues, with sparse instrumentation, raw, evocative but melodic vocals and some tremendous songs. Some of those songs bleed into a nice jazziness to bring an excellent air of versatility and variation to the music of this talented Canadian bluesman. He has a masterly guitar technique and uses a variety of guitar sounds to bring a nice diversity to proceedings. He is one of these talented bluesmen that can’t really have lived the blues life of the old time greats but as in the case of an artist such as John Hammond he has a real grip of and feel for the genre. It helps that he is such a talented guitarist who has a playing style that evokes the rawness of some of the greats and he doesn’t make the mistake, as some do, of trying to dirty the sound up by playing too many notes. He just does what is necessary for the song rather than trying to lose the music in any virtuoso histrionics, although undoubtedly he could if he wanted to.
The songs were all written by Brandon and cover a variety of subject matter, always with a powerful depth of feeling, but conversely with a sparse easy going control. His excellent, expressive vocal style ensures this is an album that no one is ever going to tire of as is his tremendous guitar playing that is supplemented by his harmonica, foot percussion, kazoo and jug! A virtual one man band were it not for the help of Keith Picot on upright bass, Ed White on drums on tracks 4,6, and 10 whilst Daniel Lapp plays cornet on track 3 and fiddle on track 10. Despite the already mentioned sparseness of the instrumentation there is always enough variety to give this tremendous recording a nice feeling of diversity. Although his blues are as good as anyone around at the moment he could also end up being thought of as a talented jazz singer thanks to his control, depth of feeling and his ability to make it seem he is in many ways improvising. There is often a light jazzy feeling throughout this album that blends beautifully with his blues, bringing an unusual but highly listenable and individual sense to proceedings.
The album opens up with Jim O’ Jim an excellent easy going blues travelling story. His evocative vocal, guitar and harmonica gives the song a nice sparse, spacy feel that sets the scene for the remainder of this excellent album. There is more skilled harmonica playing on All Night Long a tale of abandonment by his lover, on a song that has an easy going tempo and feel despite the fact that his vocals do genuinely evoke a sense of desperation. City Lights is what the title infers, a song about the city but one that actually does have an urban blues feel with chugging guitar and soulful harmonies from Ed White, contrasting with the lovely accordion sound on the following song Diana Was Her Name. The accordion is accompanied by only his guitar and vocal on a tale that has a virtually perfect easy going comfortable feel on the story of a man smitten by his love for Dianna! On Best You Can there is the lovely sound of a dobro on another easy going example of heartfelt blues with a mellow hugely confident feel that as with all of the other songs on the album exhibits the tremendous skill and the comfort that he feels in this genre. Brandons vocal on Oh Virginia, a hugely impressive song, really blends deep blues with a light jazziness that is supported by his always impressive guitar and harmonica playing.
Brandon Isaak is a tremendously talented singer, songwriter, guitar and harmonica player within the blues idiom. The fact that he sometimes spills over into a jazziness serves to reiterate his talent and his natural feel for this music. Up until now he has flown under the radar in the U.K, but it’s albums such as this one that should ensure that if not a household name, his profile will be raised to a level that is central on the radar and ensures a high degree of popularity and decent sales. If you have any feeling at all for the blues, buy this album. You won’t hear many, if any, better this year!
http://www.brandonisaak.ca/