Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The deep belly of the blues always manages to find its way beneath the armour plating many put up to deflect its influence. The placing of that somewhat heroic but ultimately flawed shield is wasted though as quality always finds a pore, a chink in the armour, in which to erode away the feeling of the uncertain and suspicious.
From Chester comes Washington Reed, a band who add a hammer to the chink, they add a blow so wide that water cascading over Niagara Falls would easily find a way in and yet for a new duo their debut E.P., Take Me Home, is one in which you have to suggest they stop hammering and get a sledge hammer out instead, you should even give them a hand to bring it down with force and if you have time paint a rather large X right where the chink is weakest. For Washington Reed, the confidence in their ability is outrageous and convincing, so much so that the X should be quaking in fear.
James Martin and Tom Kerr make up this fine Blues act, a Blues in which murky is a pleasure, the sound of an instrument being taken down deep and dirty and yet remaining as innocent as an angel managing to walk past a brewery giving away free beer with its halo unspoiled. The songs on the E.P. all reflect this this crowning achievement and the chink becomes that little wider as the Blues takes grip with a passion you would normally find as the family dog takes great pleasure in ripping apart your favourite, if disturbingly ugly, scatter cushions.
With tracks such as the opener Let The Devil In, the cerebral beauty of Ocean Breeze, the blemished world of Money and the very cool The World Today being played with pristine natural ability, Take Me Home is a collection of songs that should be taken very seriously; a set of songs that really do demand to be taken back to your place and placed within earshot of all. Deep down and dirty without a sewer in sight, something’s are just too good to keep hidden.
Washington Reed launch Take Me Home at The Compass in Chester on August 23rd with support coming from the very talented Kate Hazeldine and Shell Deliah. Price of entry is £3.
Ian D. Hall