Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Belief is everything; it is the cornerstone of personal freedom and being able to achieve all that you set out to do. Without belief, there is no confidence and for Rebecca Downes, confidence and belief appear to go hand in hand, especially as the woman from Wolverhampton releases the hugely impressive follow up to her debut album Back To The Start, the scintillating Believe.
Written alongside Steve Birkett and produced by Mark V, Rebecca Downes takes the new album into a realm of the possible, where they burgeoning lyrical observation that was so forthcoming in her debut album, takes off and sees the world from a higher plain, from an angle in which each song represents a conviction, an unbreakable trust between her and the listeners which is only to be appreciated and revelled in.
To suggest progress in the telling of lyrical Blues is to do disservice to her debut album but even in the short space of time that has been taken between the dust settling on Back To The Start and the release of Believe, the difference is marked, the confidence almost dripping from every pore and like so many female Blues performers now making the deserved headlines, Ms. Downes captures the intoxicating guile needed to make her work stand out in the minds of the listener.
That guile is caught throughout the album, it jumps out with the energy and subtlety of a cobra finding its prey scampering about without fear and one deft touch of a guitar chord later, it hypnotises with the sense of beauty and buoyant assurance required to keep Blues fresh and exciting.
Tracks such as Never Gonna Learn, the exotic feel of Sailing On A Pool Of Tears, Sweetness, the appetite for destruction that abounds in Momma’s Got A Gun and Salt Winds are testament to the power of well earned belief and true grit, of not caving in and allowing others to dictate the course of one’s life.
In belief comes truth, truth to one’s own nature and Rebecca Downes, whilst showing it wonderfully in her initial foray into the world of recorded music, now raises the stakes and offers an album full of promise and guidance in Blues appreciation. Believe is a genuine article.
Rebecca Downes’ Believe is released on March 4th.
Ian D. Hall