24 Apr 2024
Shady Brain Farm - Album Review: 19 Years In The Same House
05 Jun 2018 // A review by Andrew Smit
A most wonderful
album full of songs laden with a unique and funky mix of rock and blues.
Opening with a most funky bass line, Get Up Get Down pumps up the vibe and demands
that you do indeed get up and get down, such is the energy and feeling it generates.
The rock sound on Victim of your System is a bit of Neil Young meets Primus, and it rolls along very well, with cool lead vocals from Guitarist Ben Furniss, and fine backing vocals from Drummer Paul Taylor
and bassist Chris Vaughan.
A most wonderful
album full of songs laden with a unique and funky mix of rock and blues.
Opening with a most funky bass line, Get Up Get Down pumps up the vibe and demands
that you do indeed get up and get down, such is the energy and feeling it generates.
The rock sound on Victim of your System is a bit of Neil Young meets Primus, and it rolls along very well, with cool lead vocals from Guitarist Ben Furniss, and fine backing vocals from Drummer Paul Taylor
and bassist Chris Vaughan.Balsa Bird has
some smooth vocal harmonies that mix well with the cool low guitar riff. I
enjoyed listening to Is Anyone Listening with its psychedelic flange effect
on the vocal which adds an extra dimension to the sound. There is more good use
of the flange to great effect on the guitar riffs in Crack of the Snare and Southern Sea.
A real delight is You’ll Find Me Under 411 with snappy guitar strums that are a perfect addition to one
of the best funk bass and drum arrangements I have heard in a while. The same
cool formula is used in the tracks The Signal and Youth both with tight
bass lines from Chris that are held together brilliantly by the steadfast Drums
from Paul. Ben displays his vocal tones very well on the dreamy Mexican Girl with a stirring guitar solo from Ben to boot.
Overall the album has great charm and appeal, the song arrangements are easy to listen to, but also diverse enough to be stimulating, which keeps you interested. The songs have cool subject matter too, that make you ponder their inspiration. As a band Shady Brain Farm harvest a funky rock sound that’s full of grit, its raw and real, and this their third release is very worthy of a spin.
Review written by Andrew Smit
About Shady Brain Farm
all members living in the Norwest Auckland area of Kumeu, Waimauku and Muriwai beach
the music they make reflecting this West Coast beach vibe.
Ben Furniss - Main Vocals, Guitar & Keyboards has been in many Auckland bands over the years including The Broken Heartbreakers, Superturtle, White Swan Black Swan and Surrealistic, has a nice home studio in a barn on his farm in Kumeu where they do their recordings, (recent Galveston Demo Recordings were done there), and record local up and coming bands (this area seems to be saturated with talent coming out of Kaipara College).
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Shady Brain Farm
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