There are families where music and talent flow in the blood and in the South of the United States this particular situation is found with greater frequency than in the rest of the world. Because there are places where music, rock, southern, soul and blues, is part of the environment and air you breathe. Places like Georgia, which have been cradle of some of the greatest artists of American music. Here, the Lovell family is one of the most shining examples of this reflection and the sisters Rebecca and Megan are the legacy left to the world by this family. The story has not just begun, the sisters started their career at a very young age and in 2006 (together with the other sister Jessica) they founded the band Lovell Sisters, which broke up in 2009 after having self-produced two albums. The official foundation of this band, formed only by Rebecca and Megan, took place in 2010 and the choice of the name was a dedication to the nickname of the fifth generation great-grandfather (you can count how many encores are…) and also to their distant relationship with the famous writer Edgar Allan Poe. Their official debut was in 2014, Kin, and in the same year they rocked the Glastonbury Festival, where they were the most admired young band. An ascent that however needed a further step forward, the maturation of the sound and their desire to make them the music that came out of the recording studios, led them to self-production in 2017 and since then their success has only increased, between collaborations and presence in successful soundtracks. This Blood Harmony is the sixth of their already substantial discography and I can, without any possibility of being denied, tell you that it is their most mature, intense, fun and qualitative record. Indeed, I would add that it is one of the most exciting American rock records of this 2022. The duo with a sparkling talent, with their historical rhythmic collaborators, Tarka Laymann on bass and Kevin McGowan on drums, is burning fire. Rebecca, writer of most of the songs, is voice, guitar and keyboard, is also the wife of another talent of American music that I told you a few weeks ago, namely Tyler Bryant (who helped the production of the album). Megan is, as her sister calls her, “the Queen of Slide”, playing lap-steel, resophonic guitar and harmonica. In short, two multi-instrumentalists, who grew up with rock music and classical music in their ears, in a family where talent is really at home. The album is composed of 11 pieces dragged by guitars, slide, the wild rhythm, a southern rock influenced by blues, soul, with a strong character, not inclined to slow the race. A blaze of Southern fire that will envelop you and drag you into the stories of the Lovell family. Are you ready for a journey through the swamps furrowed by the warmest and wettest blues? Start the first piece, Deep Stays Down, and you can imagine yourself in one of those juke joints where Robert Johnson would shake the crowds in the ’30s. Voices cut the air, create contrast with the dark and dragged rhythm, The rhythm is just mentioned and the resophonic chisels a sound that hypnotizes you to shake with the electric explosion of the finale. The duo that bothers the Saints and with the explosive southern of Bad Spell, responds to the great Screamin’ Jay Hawkins and his I Put a Spell On You. The guitars scratch the speakers, dirty and intense, the voice is fantastic in dragging the whirlwind that tastes like rock and pays homage to one of the pioneers of modern blues rock music. Gorgeous. The dedication felt to their land in Georgia Off My Mind is a very rocker riff that tastes of blues and Southern flavors, a piece that tells us of dreams chased so much to leave the place where you grew up in the rearview mirror, but firmly in the heart. The song seems to come out of a jam session with fellow Blackberry Smoke and trust me is a nice compliment.Pride of the South that also exudes from the rhythmic Southern Comfort, even here southern rock is declined in a personal and exciting way, the guitars do a spectacular job. The energy of the sound is also affected by the rocker ear of Rebecca’s husband at the co-production and probably helped complete the vision of the Lovell sisters. The final solo is slide joy. Bolt Cutters & The Family Name is groove, it’s that rhythm that shakes the bones, it’s fire that burns and upsets the souls. A clear and clear statement of intent. It burns everything and burns hard. The title track, a rock song dragged by Megan’s slide, is marked by an exceptional, intense and exciting vocal performance by Rebecca, while she sings us about the power of the family connection in their music: “more than flesh, more than bones / When I sing, I don’t sing alone”. We have the goose bumps for these words so simple, but intense, a realize that without their roots they would not be what they are and that is the two most rock and talented sisters of American music. Kick The Blues is a fun, lively, energetic rock, where guitars drag us to a live club to jump and sing at the top of our lungs. Rock and roll friends, like what other talented women played in the past, echoes of Janis Joplin and Joan Jett, to dance to exhaustion. The Lovell sisters, who became famous for their YouTube direct where they played covers of the golden years, learned that lesson and are declining it in a personal and damned beautiful way. The only concession to the slowdown of the race, is the blues rock ballad Might as Well Be Me, with the voice still on the shields, it seems that for once will not be the guitars protagonists, but it’s just a feeling because the piece contains a splendid solo, And now you know why Megan is the slide queen. The guitars have not finished and come back to shake our bones in Summertime Sunset and the voice goes up as far as few can get, a southern rock as it has not been felt for some time, intense and exciting. Groove and slide, until you get to a solo that pierces the air, beauty that sparkles in the sun. The closing with Lip As Cold As Diamond is a slow blues with an almost gothic flavor, a swamp that clings to the soul, enthralling and the text follows this melancholy feeling that worries, the encounter with the Creator, death and the undertaker. A closing furrowed once again by the slide of Megan that penetrates deeply, like the words that Rebecca sings us with emphasis, almost claiming with this gloomy atmosphere their descent from the writer of Gothic stories. The Lovell sisters take the family connection to another level in this Blood Harmony, they excite us and drag us with a journey through the music of the South, a journey into the swamps of blues and the dusty streets of rock and intense soul, a journey to the origins of southern rock, but with an appeal of modernity and originality that only a duo of women from the most talented could conceive. Don’t wait for friends yet, go and meet the Lovell family and their sound, if you love quality music you will not leave easily from their home.
Good listening,
Trex Willer by http://www.ticinonotizie.it
(you can find original italian article at this link: https://www.ticinonotizie.it/larkin-poe-blood-harmony-2022-by-trex-roads/ )
