Ivy Gold – ‘Six Dusty Winds’

(A1 Records / Golden Ivy Records)

At its core Ivy Gold’s Six Dusty Winds is a pure blues album, but it exhibits musical traits uncharacteristic with traditional blues bands making it far more than a standard blues album. It has a strong melodic sensibility and strong potent choruses which normally take a back seat to the rawness and visceral nature of the ol’ time blues.

Six Dusty Winds without doubt has multi genre appeal, this mash-up in the song writing may put off traditional blues purists but to me it makes the songs less niche and gives them a broader range of appeal. Blues fans should still adore the album even if they nod to the strong commercial factor the album shows pushing it towards the borders of the genre’s definitions.

The songs on the whole display a heavier tone, pushing the albums feel into seventies classic rock – which of course is the blues with a heavier impact, but this album is closer to trad blues in its performance than say Foghat or Led Zeppelin. That appeal to classic rock fans though should still be very strong.

The potent melodic sensibility which coats virtually every song is where Ivy Gold hit all the right buttons with me. It gives the songs much more life and vibrancy which wraps me up into the emotion of the songs. Obviously, this approach in the song writing and performance makes the album far more commercial. The Blues isn’t for everyone as it can be very pessimistic and depressive – whereas Ivy Gold give you a taste of Trad blues but in a far more palatable format which non blues fans can enjoy and appreciate.

The album is full on mid-tempo blues swagger with slinky guitar riffs that ooze old school blues. Coupled with strong vibrant vocal melodies and memorable choruses that imbed themselves on your consciousness. Overall, the album has a melancholic and bittersweet feeling to it the title track ‘Six Dusty Winds’ showcases this perfectly. I wouldn’t normally use the word anthemic when talking about the blues but some of these songs have powerful anthemic impact, ‘We Are One’ and ‘Retribution’ can only be described as anthems! One word I will utter over and again about Ivy Gold is Blues, but this album is so much more than that label would allow it to be, in an excessively positive way. The song writing pushes the boundaries of the genre and is never afraid to incorporate strong melodies or commercial flavours to enhance a songs flow or impact.

A song is always the sum of its parts and all the musicians on this album deserve praise for their writing contribution or performance but as a huge female vocal fan it’s hard for me not to focus or gravitate towards Ivy Gold vocalist Manou in particular. She has a strong powerful delivery; she has a little bit of rock grit but she has a smoother flow than a stereotypical classic rock vocalist which obviously helps her accentuate those juicer melodious vocal lines. She gives it the boom when needed but she also has a delicate edge which gives a warmth to her performance especially on the more obvious ballads on the album.

I think this is an album which any rock fan should sample, it’s a really easy album to enjoy. Obviously, it’s seventies rock fans who will gravitate to it more so than others but I think anyone who enjoys female vocalists especially those within the classic rock genre, like Janis Joplin or the Wilson sisters for example will find Six Dusty Winds an enjoyable blast of strong anthemic blues!

8/10

Essential Track – ‘This Is My Time’

Review by Woody