Christopher Rees: Devil’s Bridge

DVDfever.co.uk – Christopher Rees: Devil’s Bridge CD reviewElly Roberts reviews

Christopher Rees: Devil’s BridgeDistributed by
Red Eye Music

• Released: May 2009
• Rating: 10/10++
• Vote and comment on this album:View Comments

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Cerebral Welshman’s angst-ridden masterpiece.

Once again, Devil’s Bridge, recorded on the west coast of Wales, consolidates Christopher Rees as Britain’s leading Americana exponent.

Devil’s Bridge hits the ground running with an old fashioned 1950’s rockabilly romp, with this foot- stomping classic What Walks Outside My Window?, revealing the horrors of paranoia : “What wakes when morning comes? / What wickedness lurks behind the eyes / Of a man with his finger on the trigger of a gun?”, all wrapped up in a massive tribute to the forefathers of the genre like Elvis, Johnny Cash, but more like Johnny Burnette. Rees captures the menacing nightmare of living ‘on the edge’ to perfection by including elements of murder blues with twanging guitar licks by Pete Mathison and dollops of harmonica by Rees himself. His trip to the legendary Sun Studios has undoubtedly inspired this song.

Dropping to a mellower template, Karma Found is equally menacing is a different way, as it seriously questions our commitment to faith, fate and karma, driven by a funky blues spirit, with some deft tremolo strums and riffs. The lines, “Will it trip you up from time to time / When you waver far from the line? “, probing should we leave things to chance to get us by, or do we need something spiritually and intellectually to keep us on track.

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Next up, Prescott’s Confession, is a punchy ‘adapted’ murder ballad driven by sparkling banjo flourishes, rolling beats with a bluegrass feel, as Prescott confesses to the murder of his adulterous lover, in an almost defiantly and celebratory way, spouting “May you all happy be”, in the final chorus.

No-one does vocal anguish better than Rees, and it’s highlighted on the positively joyous Take My Hand. A big fan of Otis Redding and Al Green, he’s learnt to fuse exasperation (questioning religious faith and leaders) with curious celebration, boosted by old school call-and-response backups and lead vocals. Sacrifices Made sounds like some 1950s cowboy ballad, though it’s more personal (he mentions a drifter playing lonesome blues thankful for his parents sacrifices ), paying tribute to family love, which he hopes some day, he’ll repay.

The upbeat flavour continues on the pulsating Shadows In The Night, the tragic tale of the innocence of a young girl subjected to assault and left to die, put to great effect on another rockabilly blast.Jolly Appalachian bluegrass infused Kicked Out By Love is a right old knees-up about the turmoil of emotions involved in a dodgy love affair with a femme fatale – “You’re just a messed up girl / With too many demons / To claim that you could be true,” just about sums it all up.

It’s a case of ‘by the devil I was tempted.’

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The mood shifts significantly on All Our Beds Are Made. This choral folk song returns to Rees’s theme of doubt in faith and religion. Inspired by Texan songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, it touches on more connected views on spirituality, nature, and the land that surrounds us.Returning to more anguish related matters, Burned is the tale of a boy who sacrificed his soul for love. The sublime and haunting harmonica adds to the drama of the boy’s emotional torture.The traumatic experience of witnessing a heinous crime, again on a woman, fuels the agony of the event with some sharp lyrics on Erase The Memory – “ And you can’t save her now / You can’t change her fate / But you still hear her screams / As her heart breaks”, as the witness tries to shut out the vicious attack. The rolling tremolo strums and harmonica add to the sheer melancholy of the piece.

Using just banjo and voice to masterful effect, Hangman’s Tree, tells the time honoured tale of an innocent man on death row, for the arson of his home killing his wife and child. This musically stark track has a back porch touch, and it wouldn’t have worked in any other format, superbly catching the agony of the distraught husband alone in his cell.

Desperation is palpable in every lyric.

Worlds Fall Apart Everyday, a gospel –spiritual styled song, is the universal ‘drowning your sorrows in beer’ song via the bluesy slide guitar licks complemented by choral backups, is intended to remind us there’s always someone worse of than us in this crazy world. How true.Compared to previous albums, which have been more expansive with fuller instrumentation, Rees has delivered his best album to date and deserves recognition for his fantastic songwriting skills.A slot on Later…with Jools Holland would make him a household name, so come on Jools. Watcha waitin’ fer ?

The verdict – A ‘real’ classic.

Weblinks for music samples and more:christopherrees.co.uk /myspace.com/christopherrees

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The full list of tracks included are :

1. What Walks Outside My Window?
2. Karma Found
3. Prescott’s Confession
4. Take My Hand
5. Scarifies Made
6. Shadows In The Night
7. Kicked Out By Love
8. All Our Beds Are Made
9. Burned
10. Erase The Memory
11. Hangman’s Tree
12. Worlds Fall Apart EverydayView the discussion thread.blog comments powered by Disqus= 0) {query += ‘url’ + i + ‘=’ + encodeURIComponent(links[i].href) + ‘&’;}}document.write(”);})();//]]]]>]]>

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