SEAN PINCHIN – RUST BUCKET
2013 – Self
Released
This is a high quality album of beautifully played and sung blues from this talented Toronto native. There is often an easy going feel that should give the album more appeal for the borderline blues fan and yet, at the same time there is a heartfelt raw intensity to many of the songs.
Sean is joined on this, his fourth high quality album, by the lovely backing vocals of another Toronto native Emma-Lee, who has the ability to further expand the sound and passion inherent in these excellent songs. The equally talented Steve Strongman, another Toronto based bluesman, also helps out on an album that should, if it gets even a small promotional push, sell vey well.
Sean’s warm melodically engaging vocals and terrific resonator guitar playing could, on the strength of this album, become his signature sound, such is the talent that he possesses. Those excellent vocals allow him to express himself with more versatility than many of his peers, but the album is never overtly smooth, always retaining a grittiness that is so essential to the blues. All of the playing and vocals are tremendous, bringing a lot more warmth to the genre and Sean possesses a vocal style of such quality that he would do well in just about any roots sub genre and beyond with his ability to express a range of emotions and tempos
Three of the eleven songs are written solely by Sean and the other seven in conjunction with Rob Szabo who was also responsible for production. Talking of production, the album has a lovely clear open sound with none of the muddy dense sound that many generically similar albums suffer from. The instrumentation is never overdone, allowing the beautiful sound of Sean’s resonator guitar playing and his excellent vocals to shine through, giving the lyrics plenty of breathing space.
The songs are a perfect mix of ballads and mid tempo blues songs, bringing a nice diversity and balance to an album that is difficult to find fault with. The album opens with the mid tempo Broken Down Automobile, highlighted by his extraordinary resonator guitar playing that signals an excellent start to an album that is further lifted by Sean’s emotional vocal performance and the beautiful support of Emma-Lee. High Heel Shoes is a really good stomping mid tempo blues song with excellent backing vocals and guitar sound to support Sean’s lead on this love song that is in many ways an excellent modern day take on High Heeled Sneakers. Wanna Stay In Bed has a nice sparse sound with just harmonica and guitar support for Seans vocals on an excellent slow moody blues with even more atmosphere provided by his tremendous guitar playing. Comin’ Home has a moodily haunting melodic guitar start with just snare for company before Sean’s excellent warm vocals join in on this gorgeous slow blues ballad that highlights his tremendous vocal abilities as well as his writing qualities, with Emma-Lee’s beautiful harmony vocals adding even more depth and colour.
This is certainly not an evocation of the dirty, raw rural blues of the past but as I said earlier there is a nice grittiness to the recording and the bonus of the warm vocals and lovely resonator guitar sound should ensure this gives a further boost to an already excellent catalogue of recordings. Buy this and then check out his previous albums. You won't be sorry.
http://seanpinchin.ca/
This is a high quality album of beautifully played and sung blues from this talented Toronto native. There is often an easy going feel that should give the album more appeal for the borderline blues fan and yet, at the same time there is a heartfelt raw intensity to many of the songs.
Sean is joined on this, his fourth high quality album, by the lovely backing vocals of another Toronto native Emma-Lee, who has the ability to further expand the sound and passion inherent in these excellent songs. The equally talented Steve Strongman, another Toronto based bluesman, also helps out on an album that should, if it gets even a small promotional push, sell vey well.
Sean’s warm melodically engaging vocals and terrific resonator guitar playing could, on the strength of this album, become his signature sound, such is the talent that he possesses. Those excellent vocals allow him to express himself with more versatility than many of his peers, but the album is never overtly smooth, always retaining a grittiness that is so essential to the blues. All of the playing and vocals are tremendous, bringing a lot more warmth to the genre and Sean possesses a vocal style of such quality that he would do well in just about any roots sub genre and beyond with his ability to express a range of emotions and tempos
Three of the eleven songs are written solely by Sean and the other seven in conjunction with Rob Szabo who was also responsible for production. Talking of production, the album has a lovely clear open sound with none of the muddy dense sound that many generically similar albums suffer from. The instrumentation is never overdone, allowing the beautiful sound of Sean’s resonator guitar playing and his excellent vocals to shine through, giving the lyrics plenty of breathing space.
The songs are a perfect mix of ballads and mid tempo blues songs, bringing a nice diversity and balance to an album that is difficult to find fault with. The album opens with the mid tempo Broken Down Automobile, highlighted by his extraordinary resonator guitar playing that signals an excellent start to an album that is further lifted by Sean’s emotional vocal performance and the beautiful support of Emma-Lee. High Heel Shoes is a really good stomping mid tempo blues song with excellent backing vocals and guitar sound to support Sean’s lead on this love song that is in many ways an excellent modern day take on High Heeled Sneakers. Wanna Stay In Bed has a nice sparse sound with just harmonica and guitar support for Seans vocals on an excellent slow moody blues with even more atmosphere provided by his tremendous guitar playing. Comin’ Home has a moodily haunting melodic guitar start with just snare for company before Sean’s excellent warm vocals join in on this gorgeous slow blues ballad that highlights his tremendous vocal abilities as well as his writing qualities, with Emma-Lee’s beautiful harmony vocals adding even more depth and colour.
This is certainly not an evocation of the dirty, raw rural blues of the past but as I said earlier there is a nice grittiness to the recording and the bonus of the warm vocals and lovely resonator guitar sound should ensure this gives a further boost to an already excellent catalogue of recordings. Buy this and then check out his previous albums. You won't be sorry.
http://seanpinchin.ca/