Scuzzfolk
London five piece Billy Vincent mix the classic sounds of Americana and folk with more intense rock moments on their debut album She creating a record of variety that crosses genre boundaries without breaking its stride and contains more hits than misses - actually checking out the band on Facebook they call themselves scuzzfolk, which is actually a great way to describe their sound, (incidentally, you may think you've stumbled on the wrong band, as they also look nothing like you'd imagine from listening to them first, but that fits with their varied influences and sound too).
Slide guitar, violin, brass, hits of memorable riffage and cracking tunes make the record worth sticking around for on an initial play through but the thing you tend to come back for are the impassioned vocals; often cracked with emotion and tackling the variety of tunes with ease. Opening with Dead Man's Shoes the album doesn't really prepare you for what's to come but its still a great opening; strings and slide guitar with those powerful vocals pumping out a catchy melody over the top really draws you in. When the super catchy And It Fights kicks in and the emotion is cranked up you get a better idea of the band's sound - breezing from almost pop-rock back to the sweet strings and brass of an Americana style section - this is a great track.
Despite being so varied and not knowing what to expect from each track when you first listen, on repeated spins you quickly realise that this is far from a confusing mish-mash of sounds, in fact the band weave the potentially disparate elements into a cohesive and enjoyable experience which has the potential to appeal to fans of a wide variety of styles.