Sun House 2022
Live At The 100 Club
On and on, London foursome rediscover their verve on a post-Covid landscape.
When this collective hit the stage of a venerated British venue on April 26th, 2020, their vigor and vibrancy of their delivery reflected the thrill of not only being back in action but also of being together in the same room after a two-year pandemic-imposed hiatus – the thrill which remains just as tangible on the quartet’s mini-album that preserved a part of that evening for posterity. Apparently, they didn’t even need to rehearse the set, drawing on the team’s sole longplay, “Ticket To Fly” from 2020, yet giving its still-unaired numbers a mighty kick in the gears to make what used to feel cool a concert hotness the band’s bluesy leanings require. As a result, six cuts on offer seem effective enough for any listener to follow the Londoners from now on.
They reach the point of no return right after the first riffs of the aforementioned platter’s title track fill the club, singer Tomas Baptista toasting the audience, while Jamie Ellis’ six-string licks propel the combo down the rock ‘n’ roll route and Craig Walker’s bass rumble punctures the groove laid by Cam Meek’s drums. So once the little ensemble slow the pace to throw the lines of “Take My Money” to the punters, the Americans who said “Can’t Buy A Thrill” should be proven wrong, especially when molten, chiming solos are deployed with a lot of gusto and panache which lead the intensely pulsing “Loose Woman” to the edge of bottom-end delirium where vocals become mellifluous, as if haunted by the ghosts of love. However, for all the Celtic drone turning “Heed The Call (Of The Western War)” into epic panorama, the tremulous balladry of “Do I Say” is hard-hitting on a totally different emotional level, baring the band’s soft underbelly, before the fantastic instrumental passages of “Icarus” start to soar and get close to the sun.
That’s the way to bring it all home for SUN HOUSE, with everyone’s welcome to drop by.
*****
