I am a product of Thatcher’s disaster. This means that going to state school in the 80s makes me lucky to speak English, never mind any other language.
I can, though, work Google. So I can tell you that “Sonora” translates as “pleasant sounding” and that’s sort of Susan Santos’ sixth album summed up.
“Hot Rod Lady” revs its engines with a groove and a swing, while the Latin tinges that you want from a Spanish artist are right there on “Snakebite” – and you can’t help notice the lust it drips with.
“So Long” changes the pace a little, and there are singer-songwriters all over the place who wish they’d written it.
Indeed, it seems that Santos doing all she can to pack as much as possible into the eight songs here. There’s a timelessness to the gospel of “Have Mercy”, and the flip side of that is the energetic and anthemic “What I Want”.
As a kid I was enthralled by the early rock n roll stars – a love I retain to this day – and “Voodoo Wheels” is cut from that cloth and if I haven’t mentioned the skill and class to her playing yet, then “Call Me Tonight” seems like the ideal place to do that as it almost sneaks into your consciousness. “I’ll make it worth your while” she sings. I am not sure the guitar is the only thing on her mind here, at a guess.
A short, sharp shock of a record – over and out in 35 minutes – finishes with something that comes on like a cross between Hendrix and Garage Rock. “Let It Ride” seems to underline the sense of fun and abandon that permeates this. She’s shared a stage with Billy Gibbons and the right Reverend would be thrilled at this one, fo’ sho’.
Warm, breezy and yes, pleasant sounding, “Sonora” is the sort of record that initially seems like it washes over you, before you realise it’s gone in by a kind of osmosis.
Rating 8/10
