Hertfordshire’s finest up the ante
To fully appreciate the new sound on offer from Broken Chords, allow MV to take you back two years. To be accurate, we are backstage in Leamington Spa in a room with a Gypsy Caravan – this is not a joke.
To make things even more surreal, assorted members of ELO are wandering about as they are playing with Jasper Carrot later in the evening – no, this isn’t a joke either.
We are there to talk to a young band called Broken Chords about their plans for the future. At the end of the interview we asked the trio the boring question: Which artist would you like to emulate?
Their former drummer said the Foo fighters, bassist Aiden mentioned a modern rock band we pretended to have heard of, but singer/guitarist Joe Finnegan looked us right in the eye and said “Prince” without a moment’s hesitation.
Bands, lets be real about this, say this type of thing all the time, most of the time they don’t mean it, or if they do, they never follow it through. Nobody told Broken Chords that honesty wasn’t the best policy, because fast forward to 2016 and “Modern Fables” and if it isn’t quite a new band, then its one that is looking to find its own niche.
They are still a hard rock trio, with hooks and an ear for a catchy chorus when they hear one, but now things have got, well, decidedly funky.
That much is evident from the second the “Depths Of Hades” slinks into view. A soulful strut, it is immediately obvious that this is firstly a very different band, but secondly that adding this soul filled touch really suits them.
Off and running now, “The Boatman” is a real Stones-y slammer, and is glorious fun with its timeless barroom feel. The single “Love On Heat” kicks off with a wonderful led melody and any chorus with handclaps has to be ace, right?
“6 String Woman” is perhaps the most soul infused, but its hook will grab you and won’t let go, and if The Black Crowes fancied jamming with Stevie Wonder then it might sound a touch like the highlight that is “Up The Ante”.
Things even end with a kind of modern approximation of Mott The Hoople as Finnegan channels his inner Ian Hunter on the slow building ballad “Swan Song”.
It – like everything else here – is the sound of The Broken Chords making the collection they wanted to and sounding glorious. Hopefully “Modern Fables” will give them the breakthrough they deserve.
And that ain’t a fairytale.
Rating 8.5/10
