Eustace
The Album -
Different Sides
Listen to the interview HERE :
Review by - Cassie Hughes
Salutations badasses! Following on from CC’s interview with the Eustace band, the new Eustace album, "Different Sides" is a 10- track journey you’ll probably want to take.
The first song on the album, “For You”, has a plucky intro with overlapping distorted vocals sang through a megaphone that keeps you on edge waiting for the next chord. As the intro to a new album it sets the tone and promises rugged vocals and fuzzy guitar sounds that slide and bend and blend seamlessly. It presents a new sound in comparison to their first album which was an acoustic venture and gives the band opportunity to perform from their clear diverse musical tastes.
After listening to “Don’t Cry One Tear” I challenge any of you listeners to feel anything other than asserted in how to handle impending doom. Strong words, I know. On this track we hear a musical interpretation of one man’s attitude towards death. Eustace draws from personal experience during a period in which his father was faced with ill health and uncertainty about what that would mean for the future. The joyful, punchy guitar line may belie the lyrical content in some ways but it is almost gospel in the way it delivers reassurance and positivity that you can draw from in darker times. It is a great testament to the song writing, effectively interpreting another person’s attitude and emotions when confronted with their own mortality.
There are two epics on the album. First up is track five “Soul in Glasgow” which plays at seven minutes and thirty nine seconds. Track nine, “Suffer You” lasts seven minutes and forty eight seconds. The former, a ballad acknowledging his inspiration and love of the Mississippi while paying quiet homage to his home town.
The penultimate track “Suffer You” stood out for me as a personal favourite. It bears tones of resolution and heartbreak – lamenting things that must come to an end but also relief at being rid of something or someone who is standing in your way. The juxtaposition of emotion makes it a very raw and deep song that will strike a chord with any listener.
The album finishes up with “Too Fast”, about life and time and a fitting completion of the journey you’ve taken with Eustace and ending with reflection.
With any blues album, it’s difficult to pinpoint every emotion on the range. A lot of the initial visceral reaction can lie solely in the performance of the song and the sounds of the guitar. The vocals fit seamlessly with the music which evokes plenty for you to unravel. The album shows the variety that Eustace is capable of; fitting then that the album is called “Different Sides”.
18 June 2019
https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/andrewroberteustace2
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6wXKphQLBjwZ16wnRWCPNO?si=QtAl0E7IQiuGe3AqAa6fsw