I was lucky enough to catch one of Britain’s finest new folk acts in my hometown at the ‘Bath Arts Chapel’, a lovely little grassroots venue tucked sweetly out the way in Bath City centre. The Venue itself is beautiful and it must be said the efforts that they’ve gone to to keep live music flowing are admirable.
‘Man The Lifeboats’ have been on tour up and down the country promoting their new record ‘The Soul Of Albion’. The energy and social consciousness of this band is both refreshing and reassuring. These gracious performers played not one but two sets, the first half saw a light hearted stroll through some of their older songs while the second half ramped up the energy and offered us there latest spoils.
The Album “Soul of Albion” has the power of understanding the struggles of every man while certain tracks such as the song that lends it’s name to the album, will resonate with you on your own personal, almost eerie level in the way perhaps Nick Cave or Tom Waits does.
This record starts with a ‘Born Drunk’ a solid folk track sure to get you tapping your toes, I really like this song it’s got some hilariously true lyrical content setting. ‘Nobody Home’ delivers a similar yet independent rhythmic honesty. This band have an effortless, almost Springsteen like approach of getting their thoughts accross on the state of the times we’re in, without preaching or detracting from the music, which is no easy task. It’s not all serious political statements, these guys are also brilliant story tellers. In fact each song is a standalone work of art.
The talented men that make up ‘Man The Lifeboats’ are Rich Quarterman, Aaron Horlock, Sam Barker, Dan Gilroy and David Vaughan.
‘The Ballad of Sarah Hughes’ and ‘The fires of England’ are both compelling songs that show the range of songwriting these guys are capable of.
Head over to www.manthelifeboats.com to snag yourself a copy of ‘The Soul Of Albion’!