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JULIE LAMB: Trippin’ The Light

This could well be described as an album of two very distinct sides. The first six songs feature some fairly full-on rocky arrangements with distorted guitar tones to the fore. Time Flies almost has a Metallica feel to it, but, from the quirky 30 second percussion-led track, Andreas & The Kerkinators onwards, the more subtle and quieter tracks offer up a smorgasbord of musical styles highlighting some very strong songwriting by Lamb herself as well as other writers whose songs are covered here. My favourite is the clever wordplay found in Love’d Bayou with its Louisiana feel, courtesy of Richard Klein’s fiddle and Al Norman’s accordion. I was expecting to hear the strident bluesy vocals that are Lamb’s trademark sound when she’s singing with her band, The Lambhunters. Instead she’s gone for a softer, more melodic vocal style here and set that against these rocky arrangements, the juxtaposition lending the album and almost menacing tone in places. Overall, this is an interesting second album from Lamb which highlights her strong vocals, together with some solid arrangements and interesting combinations of instruments. As a fan of her live work it would have been good to hear her let rip on some good ol’ blues standards as she can do so well.

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