In The Blood
Rock/Pop/Acoustic Rock
‘’ Excellent song writing and musicianship make this track a real gem.’’
The artist
In The Blood are an all-star line-up of well-known names from the Manx Music Scene. Steph Tomlinson and David Brew take on vocal duties alongside James Craig who also contributes to the guitar playing. They’re Joined by Jamie Christian on Bass, Andy James on Drums and Nell Kneale on Guitar. A diverse background of styles and genres makes for an interesting melting pot from which their song writing has developed.
The song
The song which takes the band’s name starts off with gentle slide guitar before quickly setting the tone with a driving acoustic guitar part and monolithic strings. The gradual addition of different layers makes each verse feel like your opening another musical gift. As nice as vocal harmonies are, they can be overbearing. This isn’t the case and when the full band kicks in it’s a nice pay off.
The first guitar solo is clean and dripping in jangle and delay. It has a certain ‘Edge’ to it but there isn’t a whiff of Bono smugness about this song. The second half of the song takes a slightly darker turn and this helps keep the momentum building. A second, grittier guitar solo doesn’t feel excessive and adds nice contrast.
Finally, things start stripping back and as quickly as this song built up, it deconstructs. Back to Acoustic Guitar and sweet vocal harmony.
The Verdict
Excellent song writing and musicianship make this track a real gem to listen to. The structure gives the song light and shade and the use of different timbres is a definite strength. ‘’It’s in our soul, It’s in our blood’’ is a chorus line that seems like a good mission statement for this band as well as being a line anyone can sing along to.
If you like...
Neil Young, Eagles, Bryan Adams and Stone Sour all jump to mind here, but that’s just the surface.
https://open.spotify.com/track/0OGwgsjSYrKWJtcc1ZQjGy?si=QRPGCDCNSJqr7NaKn1D-0g
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