Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
The sound of the Big Beat may have come out of the Virginia swamps, it may have been delivered by radio deep in the heart of Texas, but its soul, the heartbeat of the river of music comes most assuredly from Louisiana, from the home a different way of celebrating life’s victories and charming fluctuations.
It may have been a decade, ten long years’ worth of absence from the scene, but it is true what they say, you cannot keep a crazy beautiful sound under wraps for long, at some point the music must be set free, and if not now, then One Of Those Days to come it will and take your heart away, if not now, then the future will be enough to tear your soul in two.
Louisiana’s LeRoux return, unabashed, stately, the regal jive not just reliving the day, striding forward, the same style of enjoyment, but one that has taken on an extra gleam, a surprising brightness in a time which has been too long happy to sit and play in the dark. One Of Those Days, the sense of the historic and dutiful days of the past, urged to become something more, a modern day sense of the invincible shining brightly, casting its light through the gloom and insincerity of the age.
The art of the gumbo, the passion of the thick layered sauce, all combine to make this new recording one that is a tasty looking and sounding dish being served before an audience in need of the tangible and the impressive; and across tracks such as Dustin Ransome’s No One’s Gonna Love Me (Like The Way You Do), Jim Odom’s Don’t Rescue Me and Nothing Left To Lose, Richard Ferreira’s Lucy Anne and the whole melting pot of ingredients stirred in the marvellous Sauce Piquante, Louisiana’s LeRoux will surely find a new set of connoisseurs waiting to dip their lives into the experience provided by the masters and chefs of the genre.
We all hark back in our minds to One Of Those Days where life was simple, exciting and passionate, given the right circumstance, given the menu of choice, we can have our fill once more at the table of elegant sound and be sated with what has been served us. Playful, honest, delightful, Louisiana’s LeRoux return, and not a moment too soon.
Louisiana’s LeRoux’ One Of Those Days is out now.
Ian D. Hall