Early posting for this one because of @bmtell’s pre-nuptlal preoccupations.
Beth Rowley produced one stunning album, Little Dreamer, in 2008 but became disillusioned with the music business and kept a low profile for some years. An EP (available on Bandcamp) appeared in 2013 and she provided the theme song for the BBC series Strike last year, and appeared with Jools Holland. Now she is back with a second album, produced in a way that she is happy with.
Gota Fria contains 12 tracks (plus an extra untitled demo on the CD) of bluesy numbers with pop, jazz and folky influences. Her extraordinary voice is masked by instruments on some of the early tracks but comes out more clearly later. One track, Only One Cloud, is repeated from the first album but here mutates from a similar start to a slow, raunchy blues through the song. There is a bit less variation in song style than on Little Dreamer, but ballads, blues and blasters all make an appearance.
Not for everyone, but take a listen. She’s touring from September.
PS Gota Fria is a Spanish cold-weather phenomenon.
I listened to this via headphones expecting an earnest girl with acoustic guitar experience. Thankfully, that is not what the album provides. This is a nicely performed, nicely played and nicely produced set of blues tinged pop tunes. The treatment of Beth Rowley’s vocals is very good, particularly the very subtle use of echo and reverb.
On the downside, well the LP is just too nice. It lacks the emotion and sorrow of a proper blues record. More to the point, despite being a very talented vocalist, Rowley’s style didn’t really convey the angst/suffering that I expect from the blues. In short, it is an artfully constructed pop LP and as such doesn’t really appeal to me.
So it is a 3/5 for me. I probably won’t listen to it again and don’t feel inclined to chase down the back catalog, but it was something new.