Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Gareth Leach, Social Family records 2020.
Melbourne based country artist, Gareth Leach, has a hit on his hands with his latest album Trigger.
The album has already reached number two on both the ARIA Country Album and iTunes Country Albums charts and number four in the mainstream charts.
Trigger is another in the string of country rock/crossover albums to do well in the mainstream charts this year.
A few weeks ago I reviewed Canadian country sensation Cory Marks’ album Who Am I which follows a similar formular; good solid rock’n’roll with a mild country twang.
It’s a formula that’s producing dividends.
Gareth’s album does offer more to the country music enthusiast than Cory’s does.
There’s more country in the instrumentation with acoustic instruments usually front and centre as opposed to Cory’s electric assault.
The album’s ten tracks include the previously released singles Down the Rabbit Hole, Old Crow Feather, My Crime and the latest single Honey, all of which have received considerable airtime.
Trigger gets off to a great start with the opening track, Oh My Devil, which gives a nod to the late great Charlie Daniels hit about “The Devil” and his fiery fiddle showdown.
This time the Devil is represented by bluegrass fiddle legend Hamish Davidson with his outstanding playing featuring on a number of tracks including Honey.
Gareth has assembled a great band for the recording with the musicianship throughout the album being top notch.
He deals with some big issues on the disc; the song Singin’ Hymns is about the damage left behind by poisonous family relationships while Down The Rabbit Hole is about our increasing addiction to social media and technology in general.
A number of songs are about the bitter/sweet struggles of being a musician and of course those struggles have been amplified this year by the shutdown.
Although I’m not usually a country music fan I did enjoy this album.
There’s a lot in it including the great final track Black Swamp which is a grungy, bluesy, dive down into the dirt that Neil young would be proud of.
