JUNKYARD CHOIR – “LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE”

Whilst the paring of Mark Woods and Tom Herbert are a Brighton based duo they sum themselves up as “One half Scottish grit, the other half Caribbean Spice” with distorted guitars providing the grit and presumably it’s the rum soaked vocals that take care of the spice – either way, “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie” is an album I’ve listened to a few times before putting pen to paper, or rather fingers to keys.

Since the White Stripes burst into the limelight in early 2000 there’s been an influx of duo led rock acts with fellow Brighton group Royal Blood being one, the female partnership of LA’s Deap Vally another, along with the underground scene providing Portsmouth’s own Rickyfitts… but to stand out from the crowd each of these bring their own influences to the table and for Junkyard Choir it’s seventies inspired rock n roll.

The album kicks off with “Vaya Con Dios” and “Get it On” (not to be confused with the T-Rex hit) both of which are full on groove led tracks focussing on the guitar/vocals and drums, although given they’re both around two minutes in length it doesn’t take long for the pace to slow down and the soothing sounds of “Oh Have Mercy”.

It may well be the two core members that composed the album, but the aforementioned “Oh Have Mercy” wouldn’t sound half as good if it weren’t for the Hammond organ of Gavin Kinch, with his playing cropping up on several tracks throughout the release showing that there’s more to Junkyard Choir than just Woods and Herbert rocking out for their own enjoyment.

There’s plenty of blues infused riffs on offer with “Let the Good Times Roll” getting things back to the low down and dirty sounds of the deep south of America whilst “Shake Your Tambourine” has a slight Led Zeppelin feel.

Junkyard Choir keep to their seventies roots and as such you can hear touches of many bands from the era (the organ kicks in again on “Let Your Love Roll In” as the band start sounding a little like Paul Rogers and Free) however the album is brought to a close with the more modernised, simplistic yet beautiful “Sweet Marlyou” and a ballad that shows whilst Junkyard Choir can achieve balls out rock n roll they balance it nicely against their more sombre moments to produce a quality release.

www.junkyardchoir.bandcamp.com