I was thrilled to have the
very first listen to the new EP from Kezia Gill, having heard her singing live
at a recent Nashville Sounds In The Round in Birmingham.
What was immediately
striking to me was that whether live or in a studio recording Kezia sounds the
same. When I asked her about this, her reply was
“Because there’s no effects,
no gimmicks...just me!”
And I think this aptly sums
up everything about her music
Kezia is spoiling us by
putting five and a half tracks on this release, and each one of them has the
right to be there – no filler music to bump up the track count
Thirties was
released as a single a few months ago, and is a lament about turning 30, but in
a very up-tempo style and really highlights that Kezia is very much a storyteller in the
time-honoured Country style. Quite a few
of my friends (an me) have turned a decade recently, or do so soon, and the
feel of this song is very relatable, regardless of which decade you have
actually turned! A real sing-a-long song that will have you joining in from the
first listen.
Dead Ends and Detours changes the pace - slower and a little
darker, heavier. The strident drum beat as a backing to Kezia’s powerful vocal underlines
the whole song and as a whole the song demonstrates Kezia has a real range that
you don’t hear from all singers
The piano intro to Girl Of
Your Dreams takes us into a softer,
melodic love song. The soaring vocal had me sitting back, eyes closed, so that
I could really feel the emotion, and that emotion is pushed right into your soul
with this one. For a Country singer, Kezia has one hell of a soulful voice! The
song is a love song, about a love story, a perfect relationship, where love
continues after the romance has burned out. It makes you want to be that guy,
and to find that girl. So emotive, so beautiful, I had to take a break after
listening.
What Kind Of Woman takes us back to “Country”, back to
the storytelling style. Written this time by Nashville based Robin Brown, it is
a song that instantly conjures images of this woman, imagining her life, her
struggles and in three and a half minutes of music you feel like you know her,
how she feels, who she is. Hard working, hard done by, hard life, but still she
struggles on.
Local Man’s Star is the track I was waiting for from
the moment I first heard it live. A tribute to Kezia’s own father who was her inspiration
to sing, as he was a singer in the local clubs “a working class hero, a local singing star”.
Emotive, evocative, heartfelt – there are almost not enough adjectives for the
theme of the song, for the lyrics and for the performance. When Kezia played
this live, the girl next to me felt compelled to immediately text her own
father. The song is so evocative, in the style of an older Northern Folk Song,
that when you listen to it you can see him, on stage at the local club, slash
curtain backdrop raffle halfway through and a mirror ball for atmosphere as
though you are watching a grainy cine film or old VHS recording.
The final track – half a track – Whisky Drinkin’ Woman is
“a short blast of what’s to
come…a teaser for my next big idea”
That’s all I’ve been told!
But it is a short blast – blast being the operative word – of pure,
unaccompanied Kezia Gill’s voice. Its short, but it is incredible. Things to come? I can’t wait….
Kezia Gill’s new EP “Dead Ends and Detours” is available from 26 April
on all the usual platforms. Kezia can be
seen at Buckle and Boots on the Saturday afternoon, setting the main stage
perfectly for an evening of music and drinking
“The reason I’m here, the reason I
sing, all that I am, I owe to him”
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