Big Back Yard: From The Studio
By Reuben Harper
Here is an upbeat, jazzy collection of tunes from the wild west coast (Bethells Beach, Auckland). The record starts and finishes with lawnmower sounds, which seems to set the mood for the album – a laid back weekend thing. There are many guests on the album, which adds variety. Sambro is a great instrumental and as mellow as a hot summer afternoon – a bit like Santana might sound if you slowed down the record. Hollow Grinders is a high tide mark on the record being breezy, relaxing and inspired. It has mesmerising guitar parts with plenty of tremelo used to great effect and some catchy melody lines. Thing Called Love has some cool Hawaiian sounding slide guitar parts on it and the sardonic refrain "... wasn't meant to go so easy, was it?" Overall this is a tasteful production captured very adequately. Independent distribution by Big Back Yard Productions: bigbackyard@xtra.co.nz
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