Lauren Housley
Sweet Surrender
Big Bad Recordings
Effortlessly classy Soulful Blues from God’s Country
The Blues comes in many shapes and formats; and at different times I love them all; but I especially have a soft spot for a chanteuse that oozes class on ballads and swinging heart-stoppers; which is exactly what Lauren Housley offers here.
Opening with the exquisite Nice To See Ya; Lauren grabs the mic and not only sings from the depths of her Soul on a Southern Blues belter that has more than a whiff of Dolly’s 9 to 5 running through the breaks too.
Face The World Alone is the type of song that music fans dream of stumbling on. A very simple construction masks some very clever song-writing and deliciously subtle musicianship in the background. It’s certainly worthy of many of my favourite Nashville/Austin songwriters and I wouldn’t be surprised; indeed I’d be thrilled to hear it turn up on an album by one of Country Music’s ‘stars’ in the near future.
Although a universal theme these days; the fist pumping and foot-stompin’ Ghost Town Blues is obviously written with her hometown of Rotherham, South Yorkshire in mind; but it’s a song that will go down well in Chicago, Athens and Dusseldorf too; and I bloody loved it!
Title track Sweet Surrender (no; NOT the Wet, Wet, Wet song!), opens with some delightful harmonica before Lauren glides into a mournful ballad about a young woman having to decide whether to stay in her bleak small town with her lover or move out into the big bad scary world. It’s a minor classic on my humble opinion.
For a debut album; Sweet Surrender by Lauren Housley is outstanding; with a pin sharp production that highlights bother voice and her words and the superb artwork on the cover would have caught my attention in a record store too.
You heard it here first.
Released UK August 28th 2015
The Rocking Magpie 