Reviewed by Bruce Dennill

The packaging for this six-song EP (and the fact that it’s not a full album) suggests annoying budgetary constraints, but, to singer/songwriter Cruickaz’s credit, the songs themselves boast a robust, layered, in-no-way-shoestring production. Backed by an eight-piece band – no intimate, coffee-shop gigs for this lot – Cruickaz offers rootsy, guitar-driven blues-rock, a distant, faith-inspired cousin of something like early Dire Straits. Lyrically, ‘Free/pt 1’ is a little obvious, without much more depth than is apparent on the first listen. Take, for example, this line from “Crazy”: “I paint a picture in my head, of this thing they call love/And I know that you’re in there somewhere, in this picture in my head.” It’s like a note intercepted by the teacher during detention. That said, the simplicity of Cruickaz’s approach, added to the plaintive note in his singing voice, makes his songs accessible to any listener. The real quality of the collection is in the arrangements, from the phased, discordant intro to opener “How Do You Know”, via the melancholic cello line of “Crazy”, vocal harmonies of album highlight “Answers Unknown” and slow blues chug of “Sleep’n With The Light On” [sic], to the moment in the title track when the whole band crash in and join the party after a quiet piano-and-guitar build-up. Look out for ‘pt 2’.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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