Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

There are always rumours of musical life existing in some parts of the U.K. that would perhaps come as a surprise to some who regard the big city, be it Birmingham, Newcastle, Glasgow, Oxford, Liverpool, Derry or Swansea to be the be all and end all of musical contribution to the lifeblood of existence.

Whilst the large urban conurbations lend themselves naturally to this premise, the overwhelming feeling of sometimes being caged in a ring road and with the only escape route via being able to provide a voice to those around you, the smaller towns, the acts that grew up with countryside upon their doorstep and the wildness of nature staring down the bottom end of a guitar neck can and do add great taste to the music experience. In Warrington’s The Black Circles new E.P.,  From The Top, the slowly increasing myth of only music made in the city is good, explodes like a meteor hitting a forest.

Blues in the last 10 to 15 years has finally shaken the tag long associated in some quarters and perhaps with some justification, with the genre that it is a music form that was primarily concerned with living constantly off the fat provided the early recorded greats, that it was stifled, arguably bloated and unable to move forward; like a fat old slug that become resistant to salt and pellets, it rolled around munching away at anything creatively interesting and the only thing to do to help the garden thrive was to stamp down hard on the beast and let the flowers roam wild.

The Black Circles add to this new found freedom and desire-filled nourishment in From The Top, a collection of four songs that sound fresh as anything laid down by the Queen of British Blues Joanne Shaw Taylor or the undoubted King of the modern era Joe Bonamassa. Filled with striking attitude, the confidence in performance, the assurance that every body blow they land on the subconscious is one that will leave a lasting and honourable impression, The Black Crows have joined the party; they may be late guests but they have bought their own crate of heady craftsmanship and have already struck up conversation with the shy group who may have felt left out of the fun.

The four songs, Gypsy Girl, Bad Luck, I’m Leaving and Stop Acting This Way resonate with rich deep sound, a philosophy of the message being heard and not lost in the avid guitar noodling favoured by a distinctive, sometimes over bearing, generation. The weaving of modernity into the very fabric of the Blues Rock genre leaving the listener at times breathless and giddy with anticipation.

For The Black Circles this is quite a release, the steam is visible, the natural sound emerges from the built up hire-rise and infiltrates the humblest and grandest of dwellings the city has to offer. The Blues rock genre is alive and flowering seeds where some might not have imagined.

Ian D. Hall