Not sure what they put in the water in Derby, but given the amount of swampy, bluesy, groove-heavy bands coming out of the area, there’s got to be something in there. To Doomsday Outlaw and These Wicked Rivers, you can now add Beggars Bliss.
“I Am I” makes the point straight away. There’s an eerie start, before the groove crushes in and Henry Dean gives it his best fire-and-brimstone vocal. By the time the solo cuts loose, the tone is set.
It’s said that the band formed with one thing in mind: if it’s not fun, it’s not getting done. Certainly, on the soul of “Forbidden Fruit” and the outright sass of “Peaches N Cream”, that’s exactly what they deliver. There’s a swagger here that never feels forced, and that matters.
Beggars Bliss are throwback in the best sense. “Train Song” could have come out at any point in the last 50 years and not sounded out of place, while “Dusk Till Dawn” proves that when they slow things down and get bluesier, they are just as effective. World-weary, perhaps, but never weighed down.
Given that there’s a bit of a Bad Company thing going on here, “I’m On Fire” feels very much like a companion piece to “Feel Like Making Love”. It has that same sense of easy, smoky confidence, the sort of thing that sounds simple until you realise how hard it is to get right.
“Sunshine” adds a bit of boogie just as the summer hits, while “Butterfly” swings beautifully and sits amongst the catchier end of what they have here. “Spiralling” is harsher, making clever use of harmonies, and it’s proof that this isn’t just “nothin’ but a good time”. There’s more going on beneath the surface.
“I wait for my time but it never comes,” they sing on “Rabbit Hole”, the last one here. “But I am hoping.”
Hope no more, because this is a debut that promises plenty.
Rating 8/10
