“Stand Up” feels like the call to arms that the whole of “Salt Roots” is built on. It’s full of energy, with a very John Butler Trio vibe, encouraging us to want more in 2026 as it veers into Kula Shaker mysticism. But none of that really matters when you get down to it and the central tenet is simply: “don’t be a twat”.
Let’s be honest — it’s good advice, right?
Rewind half an hour or so and Wheal Jane begins this, their first record in four years, with the sort of bluesy slide guitar riff that Wille and the Bandits are famous for — yet somehow there’s more anger here.
And that anger bubbles to the surface — along with God knows what else — on “Trouble Round The Bend”, which deals with the shit (literally) that the water companies pump into our rivers. Another legacy we have that bitch Thatcher to thank for.
As ever, WATB records are a journey — not just through Cornwall (although more of that later), but through styles.
Whether that’s the primal “King Kong”, as groovy, heavy and feral as they’ve ever been, or the funky, organ-driven “Style Thing”, which casually observes that the subject of the song has the “best backside I’ve seen” — must be about Kylie Minogue, but anyway, I digress.
The point is this: whatever Wille and his boys do is bound together by unflinching class, no matter how disparate the threads.
“Take My Shoulder” wafts in on a sea breeze and is kind, gentle and stoic all at once.
The second half of “Salt Roots” sees Wille almost rap on “Know My Name”, and fair play to them for always taking chances, even at this stage of their career.
That spirit carries into “Sail Away (The Mayflower)”, which tackles the early settlers to the US — people who uprooted their own salt roots, you might say. Somewhere, Seth Lakeman is looking on enviously. Either way, it’s as windswept as that Atlantic crossing.
“Reina Del Mar” then changes tack completely, sounding as Latin as a warm Mediterranean evening — and it’s striking just how many of these songs evoke the sea — before the gorgeous “Homeward Bound” closes the record.
It paints a picture of a “travelling dreamer with a Dobro guitar” driving home to Cornwall after a gig, and you can’t help but wonder how many hundreds — maybe thousands — of times Wille and the Bandits have done exactly that.
What this wonderful record proves, though, is that while you can take the boy out of Cornwall, you’re never going to break the “Salt Roots”.
Rating: 9/10
