Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
A blend, in terms of a spiritual imbibition can leave a taste in the mouth that feels odd to the palate of the clinical taster, to those that prefer an aged single malt, they find the moment to be one of a lesser deliberation and argue that the flavour has been left to take on a personality that is not of their choosing.
A blend though is much more than a mixture of persona, it is nurturing of character, of being more than the sum of its part, and what it produces can be just as intoxicating, just as stimulating, and almost unique in its own appearance to those willing to see life beyond the expensive one-shot swagger of age.
The six-strong identity of The Bonfire Radicals, Michelle Holloway, Katie Stevens, Sarah Farmer, Emma Reading, Pete Churchill, and Ilias Lintzos, are a special blend, one that has been sourced for its gentle and inspiring variety, one that is willing to mingle without fear as the sound of appreciation catches the ear and the senses; and to that end, as the heady mixture grows with anticipation of the Flywheel E.P. and the drama of clarinet, violin recorder, flute, drums, and accordion combine across original compositions and the unrepentant influence of English and Greek rhythms issue the mechanical draw and experience of the kinetic energy to be found, to be admired, as it stores and distributes the feeling of the groove, the instruments in full force.
The tracks, Zalizome/Den Boro Manoula M, The Lost Pick, Love Is Teasing, and Sarah’s Muffins, are tightly wound, but full of experience, the channelling of the intricate and in one thought-provoking stimulating moment, a reimagining of a track that the group recorded in 2022, a short time perhaps to come under the influence of nostalgia, but one which roots the melody of Satsuma Moon in a new guile of expression in the final offering Squeeze That Satsuma, what Bonfire Radicals have produced is unconventional, a heretic’s dream of illumination and fireworks, and it works exceedingly well.
Flywheel may only be five songs strong, but it reads and plays like an epic.
Bonfire Radicals release the E.P. Flywheel on 5th November.
Ian D. Hall