With the list of contenders vying for the ‘Australian Blues album of the Year’ seemingly growing each week, Melbourne’s Geoff Achison has thrown his hat in the ring, with the release of “Sovereign Town”, a collection of 12 songs, which are inspired by the gold rush in Victoria, around the 1850’s. The album was recorded in Ballarat, a town steeped in gold mining history and part of the “Golden Triangle”, close to where Achison grew up. He recalls the area and remembers exploring the old diggings, when he was a kid, so this is almost a revisit to those childhood memories and his journey through life and as a musician.
For this album, Geoff has eased off the tempo and rocking blues we are somewhat used to with his Souldiggers band, delivering an album of mostly chilled out, easy listening solo work which would suit any lazy afternoon, with sun blazing down and a nice bottle of red breathing in the sea breeze – well that how I’ve been listening to it and it works a treat! For me personally, it’s been a difficult album to review because a lot of the attraction to this is in the lyrics, and to delve deeper into that I would need to break each track down in real detail – so I’ll leave that for you to explore & enjoy.
So, onto the music, and we start with a simple percussion & double bass intro which leads us into the opening track ‘Skeleton Kiss’, with Geoff’s gravel-like vocals and mellow acoustic guitar playing setting the tone for the album. ‘Miniature Men’ & ‘Walk Away’ continue the relaxed rhythm, as we ebb & flow along with Geoff. The title track ‘Sovereign Town’ picks the pace up ever so slightly with some beautiful finger picking acoustic work. ‘Wandsworth Bridge’ is a track full of lyrics of lost loves and heartbreak, with a wonderful gentle electric solo in the middle. ‘Misha Bella’ takes us on an almost jazz-blues trip, with some incredible guitar work once more and jazz club drum beat and Hammond Organ-like keys. The album takes a completely different turn with the upbeat ‘Small Town Crime’, which caught me by surprise – pleasantly I may add – as I was “in the zone” so to speak, but I was soon back there with the outstanding ‘World of Blue’, one of my favourites on the album, with its haunting slide guitar apparent throughout the track. ‘Sleepwalking’ is another one of my favourites and it’s so great to hear Geoff being able to display his outstanding acoustic work throughout, without the temptation to “rock it up” at any time on the album. The beautiful instrumental track ‘Hand of Faith’ displays some almost Spanish-like acoustic guitar playing (I even opened a bottle of Rioja at this point), before ‘Rescue the Past’ pulls us back with a slightly quicker tempo with nice chorus and slide solo work. The album closes with ‘Coolbardie Sunrise’, another instrumental that showcases Geoff’s amazing finger picking talents, which is played on his “Regal” resonator.
I was lucky to contact Geoff to ask about the different guitars played on this release and was amazed by how many different ones were used throughout but for the guitar enthusiasts out there we’ll save that conversation for another day. If you’re after something to put on the CD player, kick your shoes off and chill out to then go get yourself a copy of “Sovereign Town”… and don’t forget a nice bottle of wine to go with it!