Sparky Alt-Country
Cambridge band Ezio have been brewing a dark country album that combines raw, brisk acoustic guitars with passionate vocals and will blow you away. The band have had a varied career, at one time signed to SonyBMG and remain one of Cambridge's best kept secrets, but hopefully the release of 'Ten Thousand Bars' will out their sound to a new audience.
From the tentative blues of 'Mandolin Song', to the stomping 'Hotel Motel, which blazes with passionate Americana and stormy guitars, this is in album full of lovely treats. 'Thin Line' is a stirring dark number with the wonderful chorus, "It's a very thin line between special and strange/ It's a very thin line between freedom and not wanting to change who you are for what they might want you to be". The beautiful melancholy guitarwork on, 'All For You' is an oral pleasure, while 'I Want You Back' is a similar troubled lament. Title track, 'Ten Thousand Bars' takes languid to the extreme a little for my liking, but its lyrics, "He sings like Stephen Hawking and he'll play like Captain Hook" are a delight.
'Woohoohoo' is classic upbeat rock tune with a familiar twang of charisma and soulful sax adding some genuine sparkle between the more reflective numbers, which make up the bulk of the album. Closer 'Circus Revisited' is certain to wake you from these daydreams with its hillybilly scrambling guitars and lively rhythm, leaving you on a definite high.
Ezio have produced a comprehensive selection of good tunes that reminds you of their fine musical prowess, although it may not be the most original alt-country release of the last few years.