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There's something a bit special about the first gig of the year.
Its a fresh start and it feels like months since the last gig even though its actually only been 3 weeks.

To add to the excitement this particular gig was the launch for JonnytheFirth's new album. Seeing Jonny live is nothing new - I've seen him dozens of times in various guises.

However the thing is that Jonny's new album has come out of the blue.

He's been juggling three different acts over the last few years Crybabycry (RIP), Knuckle and his 'one man band' solo act. All these feature Jonny's own style of bluesy rock with Knuckle at the punky end of the spectrum and Crybaby at the poppy end. His songs have a cartoonish energy to them and great tunes but they tend to be 2-3 minutes and a little formulaic.

The first I heard of the album was when Jonny set up a crowd funding project for it. He also hinted that the songs on this album were going to be a bit different. 

To add to the mystery Jonny didn't give too much away in advance of the gig. All the songs have briefly been on Soundcloud and he's played the odd song live but that's it.

Lets talk about the gig first. After two steady away support acts Jonny took the stage with a full band (bassist, guitarist and Ben (from Knuckle) on drums). Right from the start its obvious that this is a different sort of gig from him. There is a maturity about the songs. There is more variety in the styles of music. Jonny is inspired in his performance.

After playing a great slice of the album Jonny then runs through a couple of his 'greatest hits'. Then all bar Ben leave the stage and they start to play a Knuckle set. Later still Kieron O'Malley jumps on stage with his trusty fiddle and joins in.  Nobody wants the set to end and Jonny and Ben twice play 'one more song'.

Later at Harrys' bar chatting to fellow audience members its clear that I wasn't the only person gobsmacked by the performance. Even Max Mcnally, who was probably only at the gig because Rosie Doonan was due to support, was effusive in his praise!


Anyway moving onto the album. Its been my steady companion over the last couple of weeks whilst washing up or on drives in the car (two of my favourite ways of giving music my undivided attention).

Now I was a big fan of Jonny's first album (in fact if you explore a bit you'll probably find a review on this site). But the new one is a big step up.

Right from the start the quality of the recording and playing is noticeable. A key thing is the arrangements. They are interesting and varied. Stuff I'd pick out in this respect includes: the eerie 'dream like' quality of a couple of the songs ('In my Dreams' and 'Hold On'); the lovely folky intro to 'So Young'; the waltz time arrangement of 'Flowers & Bones'; and the epic nature of 'Searching For the Key'.

Jonny and his fellow producer George (who also plays some nifty bass) have done a great job.

I've noticed over time at gigs that Jonny's guitar playing has been coming on very nicely. Check out the playing on 'Searching For the Key' in particular. And similarily its not a secret that he's a good singer but I particularly like the falsetto style he's used at some points on here, for example 'Love Can Build'.

I also think the sequencing of the tracks is spot on. He makes the epic 'Searching For the Key' the penultimate track and then the slighter folky romp of 'Broken Bones' the last track. It might seem slightly counter-intuitive but I like it.

Of course some things don't change - Jonny's still got a way with a catchy chorus and the lyrics are deceptively dark considering the uptempo nature of the music (for example in the first song 'Everybody dies'). Jonny's also a bit of a musical magpie in the style of Noel Gallagher - 'Nothing Without You (Oh Kathleen)' borrows from 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' to my ears though its a lot subtler than CryBaby's 'Shine On' which was just 'Gold on the Ceiling' with different words.

Of course nothing's ever perfect and I thought a couple of the tracks were a bit dull. 'Black Feather Blues' is a typical Jonny blues number and it sounds rather like his own 'No Hero' as well. I also thought 'Mountain' was a bit slight once you got past the big gospel chorus - that said I'm sure it'll make a great live singalong.

But given the overall quality this is just a small criticsm.

If I was to pick out my favourite tracks I'd go for these couple.

I particularly love 'Searching for the Key' where Jonny unleashes his 'Inner Jim Morrison' with a stream of conciousness rap namechecking all the tracks on the album. It was also one of the highlights of the gig!

Its also great that 'So Young' as finally been recorded since its always been one of my favourite live songs. I love that its quite a different version to the live one as well.

Check out the video here for 'In My Dreams'. Four minutes plus of Jonny glowering all moody and magnificent at Brid (possibly he was just cheesed off because it looks like the fun fair is shut).

And finally here's the plug. The album is called 'Beautiful Beast' and you can get a digital download here. Plus if you live in the West Yorkshire area I believe Jonny's doing another album launch in Leeds at Oporto on Wednesday 24th February.




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