Released by: Thirsty Music
Release Date: November 7th, 2016
Genre: Alternative Rock
Links: http://www.thirstymusic.co.uk/
Tracklist:
The Albatross
Chaos
Orlando
Say It Ain’t So Joe
Black Hole
Beat Of Her Heart
Va Banque
Shore Of Light
Parliament Of Fools
Cosmic Aphrodite
Patriotic Little Trash
Thirsty is the creation of the songwriting team of Guy Bailey and Irina D. The band is headed by Mr. Bailey himself, guitarist of the superb (and not nearly acclaimed enough) Quireboys, and also has drummer Simon Hanson (Death In Vegas, Squeeze), bass and keyboards man Chris Johnstone (The Quireboys), and backing vocalist Lynne Jackaman (Saint Jude, Jackaman)
Starting with the lead track of ‘Albatross’, I just loved the echo and delay on the guitar sound, bringing an almost Chris Isaac, 7 Horse combo to the dreamlike quality.
‘Chaos’ the second track is based on the character from Pilgrims Progress. The backing vocals of Lynne Jackaman at the end has an echo of the songstress in ‘Give Me Shelter’..This is unsurprising as the album has been crafted by esteemed Stones producer Chris Kimsey.
The sexy harmonica throughout ‘Orlando’ brings a spit and sawdust bar room, sex-change dancer to life. A great late night, hip swinging, whiskey swigging tune to really get your teeth into!
A Supergrass type keyboard intro leads into ‘Say it Ain’t So Joe. In fact, the whole track does remind me of the cheeky trio from Oxford. This has a very English sounding vibe which the fabulous strings help to establish.
The more relaxed ‘Beat Of Her Heart’ has the feeling of old school Rolling Stones, which is evident throughout the whole album in some respects, whilst not taking away from Thirsty’s own individuality. The more chilled essence continues with ‘Va Banque’ and ‘Shore Of Light’, whilst the superb vocals on ‘Parliament Of Fools’ brings an upbeat quality.
‘Cosmic Aphrodite’, sang by Irina with a superbly luxurious voice, tells the story of a stranded astronaut aching for his wife that he misses so much. ‘Patriotic Little Trash’ has the Hawaiian guitar and wailing backing vocals which bring a hint of old Pink Floyd to this rich, textured, combination of a Pandora’s Box of divine music.
The magical combination of Guy’s husky, mesmerizing voice, Tarantino-esque echoing guitar sound and Irina’s Russian poetic lyrics, bring an atmospheric, otherworldly dream of an album. I was not expecting this and I have been most pleasantly surprised. A well-deserved 9 out of 10!
Review: Francijn Suermondt
Score: 9/10
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