Album Review: Matty James Cassidy - "Old Souls"

 

Having established himself on the scene with a couple of promising albums in the form of 2014's Last One To Die and 2016's The Road To No Town plus a spell playing bass in Tyla's current incarnation of the Dogs D'Amour, it's good to see a new album from Northern Irish troubadour Matty James Cassidy here in the dying days of 2020.

As with the two previous efforts, Old Souls' closest template is the steely countrified rock of solo Ricky Warwick with Said & Done and Contradiction in Terms having the necessary growly vocals and honking harmonica to conjure up the image of music from some spit 'n' sawdust saloon at the rough end of town. However, it's far from a one-trick pony - the doo-wop rhythms of The Art Of Falling Down bring to mind Johnny Cash turning his hand to covering Queen's Somebody To Love of all things while Rosary's sinister almost mariachi style rhythms could have sat on a Nick Marsh album.

The title track (and recent single) is another strong effort, a strong throaty slice of blues rock which well and truly blows any number of noodling hack bands who drag this sort of music into full on tedium out of the water while the switch from the gentle balladry of Down On My Luck to the rough 'n' ready After All and then on to the early Thin Lizzy style folk rock of Born Ancient is a good demonstration of how well Cassidy can switch up the pace.

Overall, Old Souls is a good demonstration of Matty James Cassidy's ability as both a musician and a songwriter and deserves a look for any Americana fans out there and those who just appreciate good music. You can download or stream it from his Bandcamp page and I heartily recommend that you do so.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌚🌚 (8/10)

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