A Different Thread – On A Whim
Self Released -13 September 2018
Robert Jackson is an intense young folk singer and guitarist; he’s got rockabilly hair and more aged weariness that belies the youth of that sharp young face. Alicia Best is a lush vocalist, fiddler and percussionist with a piercing vintage style and an inner steel whose boots are firmly made for stamping. Their respective musical journeys found them both busking independently of each other in Galway, Ireland over two years ago now. The meeting was a fortuitous twist of fate which resulted in them forming a musical union, realizing their voices “fit together like missing pieces of the same puzzle”. Still, if chancing upon a joint new direction in a moment when they didn’t even know each other’s name wasn’t miraculous enough, the story has a further dimension because Robert is from Staffordshire in the UK and Alicia is a native of North Carolina in the US.
Sometimes an unlikely blend of seeds can bear the most wonderful of fruit, especially when harvested on such fertile musical ground as the streets of Galway. Realising the potential to nurture their own brand of British-Americana, they went full throttle with the momentum and embarked on a journey in search of A Different Thread. It took them across the UK, Europe and the US where that groundwork in busking served them well should a pub session or a gig opening slot opportunity appear at short notice. They even won first prize in a competition at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival in 2017. Before too long, with their creativity leading to a healthy song-writing partnership in addition to the live performance, a debut album could wait no more.
Produced by North Carolina’s Jeff Crawford in collaboration with A Different Thread themselves, ‘On A Whim’ is an assured first effort with 11 of the 12 tracks being original songs. The delightful sleeve art depicts the pair in an early 20th century environment; there’s a prominent typewriter face and they sit in a room with antique style table lamps, dustbowl minimalism and no hint that this is a modern-day outfit beyond the visible evidence of very ‘now’ tattoos on Alicia. But there are bright, vibrant colours awash on this artwork too and this absence of sepia fadedness indicates that this album is alive and in the present moment, which in many ways is a fine visual depiction of the music contained herein.
I believe the US sound is far and away the dominant one here. There’s certainly an awareness of British song tradition, especially in terms of the storytelling on display, but even Jackson’s voice has a decidedly southern state purr to it. Add to that Best’s gently grazing voice and the overall effect is pure Americana. Favourable comparisons to Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings can be legitimately made and the Everly’s are clearly an influence. But as far as inspirations go, you can’t beat drawing from the best and if it doesn’t sound like a pale imitation, which A Different Thread emphatically do not, then a strong new independent sound will slowly emerge.
That’s where we are with this debut album which should resonate on those with an ear for warm, deep singer-songwriters who have drank from the well of 20th century tradition. An interpretation of ‘The Prickly Bush’ highlights this interest, a song that is today best known in its ‘Gallows Pole’ variant recorded by Led Zeppelin, itself nearly 50 years ago. Here the desperate subject matter is surprisingly given an overtly bouncy treatment. It works because rather than forcing an inappropriate jolliness it is a touch unsettling, like an ensemble of grim reapers dancing the Charleston in a graveyard. The stand-out track by far is ‘Honey And Fire’ in which a sonically adventurousness tone pervades as a dramatic escalating scale appears when the temperature starts to soar. These subtle conflicting tensions run through the best of A Different Threads work; the sweetness and the burn. It’s music that can soothe as it scolds. This duo is showing huge potential.
http://www.adifferentthread.com/