Chris While and
Julie Matthews – Who We Are (Fat Cat)
Who We Are is the ninth studio album from the former Albion
Band stalwarts. It’s a combination of Folk, Country and Americana with many of
the songs blending each of the three. Opening with the energetic Americana
fused Folk of If This Was Your Last Day, While and Matthews remind us what it
feels like to just get up there are play from your heart. Country music is a
thread through the gentle Gone Girl Gone, Mad Men and That’s Not Who We Are.
Songs such as the contemporary Country Get Through This Somehow and the bouncy
Americana I Don’t Know confirm that they are every bit as good as their
American counterparts. They’d certainly be more noticed if they were from the
other side of the pond and both of these would not be out of place in The Grand
Ol’ Opry and the like. Special mention for Howard Lees on electric guitar.
It’s not all Americana based however with Dancing Under The
Gallows, a tribute to Alice Hertz Sommer, the oldest survivor of the Holocaust,
who died earlier this year aged 111. This blend of Folk and Country is
extremely thought provoking, a fitting tribute and a lovely song overall. Heaven
Is Changing is another that shows them as a bridge between Folk and Country.
This has gentle sounds with the piano sounding like the pitter-patter of
raindrops at times. Drop Hammer is about the women who kept the steel coming in
Sheffield during the World Wars. It’s a classy contemporary Folk with a small
choir of Yorkshire factory girls. A Capella in the main with just a little
percussion to represent the factory sounds. Another war themed song is the stirring
White Feather, this being based on the White Feather movement. This will cause
debates between those that hear it and I’m sure that there will be those that
have strong thoughts on both sides of the fence. They close with the whimsical
Under A Button Moon.
If you like Folk, Country or Americana then there’s
something in here for all of you.
David Blue.
