The Lauren
Mitchell Band – Please Come Home (Independent)
The Lauren Mitchell Band call Sarasota, Florida home.
The city set amongst the Keys seems a suitably exotic location for this
talented blues-rock outfit. Now, with a great new fan-financed debut album
under their collective belt, the quintet seem certain to be making waves
considerably further afield.
Hearing their album for the first time, it’s tempting
to speculate where the money’s been spent, and for me, it’s in the studio,
where they sound completely at home. The overall sound is so warm and natural,
the band hit their groove from the off, and Mitchell possesses a voice that
blues fans will want to get to know better. It’s surely a sound that’s been
honed via hundreds of shows, and it’s an investment that consistently pays
dividends on “Please Come Home”, as each song and performance makes a lasting
impression.
Mitchell is often compared to Etta James, and opening
song “Come to Mama” reinforces the notion; and it’s not just the title. Her
voice is steeped in the blues, but very much at the soulful end of the scale,
and the arrangement, propelled by Mike Hensley’s Hammond will remind many
listeners of the ‘60s Chess sound. The title track is an epic cut of slow blues
heartbreak. Guitarist Bob Dielman delivers note-perfect solos that ooze swampy
soul, and when combined with Hensley’s keys and Mitchell’s yearning vocal,
resistance is futile.
This is the sound of a blues band hitting their
stride in style, and if further proof were required, they even manage to
breathe life into the much used and abused “House of
the Rising Sun”.
Tony S.
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