BLACKBIRD HILL
Midday Moonlight – CD//DD
Releases May 5th, 2017
Reviewed By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker

 

French garage rock power duo Blackbird Hill are back with ‘Midday Moonlight‘ this Friday, May 5th and are poised to rock out as only they can..and do! Guitarist/vocalist Alexis Dartiguelongue and drummer/vocalist Maxime Conan create six powerful cuts of delta blues-infused, fuzzened heavy rock on their latest outing. With one foot firmly planted in a place of organic folk music and the other in enthralling electrified heaviness, Blackbird Hill takes us on quite an interesting ride.

With the introductory track ‘Trigger Law‘ comes a deluge of fat, fuzzy riffs at first which then yields to some bluesy banjo pickin’. Hazy vocals narrate a tale of murder and vengeance while rhythmic grooves abound beneath. Diversity takes the lead on other fantastic tracks like the swaggering ‘Horseback Sight“, the rockabilly scorcher ‘Run Like Mad‘ and the incredible title track, ‘Midday Moonlight‘ (streaming below). Without question though, my favorites are a pair of back-to-back songs, ‘Stories From The Road‘ and ‘Hold Your Fire‘. The first is a full-on dive into backwoods-y Americana, an emotionally intense ode that runs nearly nine minutes in length. Rippling with sedate nostalgia, its eclectic minimalism unfolds a fantastic yarn both lyrically and musically. The latter is hard-hitting and allows the duo to really cut loose and strut their stuff so to speak.

So, if you like blues-strutting Garage Rock with abundant tilts toward psychedelia and fuzz rock, plus great songwriting, arranging and execution, well then I have news for you. That news would be this latest salvo of killer two man-based rock ‘n roll, ‘Midday Moonlight‘ from Blackbird Hill. It will be available on this Friday’s (May 5th) release date and here’s the title track until then. Enjoy!

– Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker