RIP Virgil Howe, the drummer in Little Barrie and the son of Yes guitarist Steve Howe, has died at the age of 42.
Over the course of a decade and a half and four albums, Little Barrie
have proven themselves to be masters of the power trio. They throw the
blues, hard rock, psychedelia, and good-old album rock in a blender and
end up with a brew that's both familiar and sounds sparklingly new.
Their fifth album, Death Express, is the first that Little Barrie
produced themselves, and it's their most immediate and atmospheric yet.
Recording at their own pace in their practice space, the bandmembers
were able to spend time honing their songs and sound to a fine point.
When they emerged, it was with a batch of songs that bludgeon the
listener with heavy riffs and thunderous drums, the moody tunes creeping
in the shadows while sporting a menacing snarl. Guitarist Barrie Cadogan
pulls out every trick he's learned along the way, but never plays an
excess note. Everything he does is in service to the song or the mood,
not to show off his formidable skills. Drummer Virgil Howe and bassist Lewis Wharton
are also unselfish sorts, and provide a rock-solid rhythm section that
also has plenty of flash when called upon to step to the front. The
album is long at 20 songs, but to the trio's credit, the energy never
flags.
Like a mighty boulder gathering speed as it rolls down a
mountain, the album alternates between window-rattling rockers ("You
Won't Stop Us" and the super hooky "Love or Love"), nasty laid-back
workouts ("I.5.C.A."), scathing prog funk jams ("Vulture Swarm"), and
strutting songs that sound like blueprints for a (really good) Black Crowes
comeback album (the title track and "Mind Mountain," which is built out
of their killer riff that serves as the theme to Better Call Saul). The
trio never falters or hits a bum note throughout the album, and if --
like in the past -- the focus is more on atmosphere than songcraft,
that's OK, because the atmosphere they create is so thick and fuzzy,
like a favorite old album from the early '70s lovingly cleaned up but
still a little scruffy. It's hard to rate Little Barrie
albums, since they are so close in sound and structure, but this might
be their tightest, toughest, and most impressive work to date.
Taste :
Little Barrie -
I.5.C.A
Little Barrie - You Won't Stop Us
Little Barrie - Death Express(@ Hostess Club Weekender
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