Hey Negrita Album Review
Hey Negrita – Burn The Whole Place Down
Album review by Ian Dickinson
Why would you spend hundreds of pounds on a flight to the USA when for a mere fraction of the price you can sit in the comfort of your own home put on Hey Negrita’s latest acoustic offering, Burn The Whole Place Down, pour yourself a fine single malt and be whisked away to another time and place.
If I hadn’t have been told previously that the band were from the London and the South East area I would have had no doubt in my mind that they were an all America group. Hey Negrita do not shy from their influences and have become fully engulfed in the Americana scene mixing the Blues, Country and some gold ol’ fashion story telling to create something special. This is the bands first acoustic album and was recorded live during a 5 hour session. According to Hey Negrita the intention was to “capture the band exactly how we sound when we’re playing for friends in the kitchen.” They have certainly achieved this goal. The album is warm, intimate and inviting. It is a pleasure to be invited into such a personal space and to hear the band at their finest. Images of the band sitting around a warm fire, drinking and playing a way into the early hours can not be suppressed from the brain whilst listening. It is obvious when a band is enjoying what they are playing and it tells in the high quality of the tracks recorded.
The welcoming atmosphere lends itself to Felix Bechtolsheimer’s descriptive and evocative lyrics. The inviting sound of the accordion and banjo serve as a joyful Trojan horse, tricking the listener into the self deprecating and often depressing lyrics. The album opens with a number of these songs and the accordion creates a surreal Carnival atmosphere but Hey Negrita really shine when the tracks take a more malevolent tone. The song Rope is the best example of this. Captain Bliss’s harmonica serves a dual purpose, sounding at times like the whistle of a steam train and at other times the howling of wolfs. Images of the Wild West, Hobos and broken hearted men jumping trains across America, running from loves lost or love unreciprocated.
Hey Negrita featured in the highly acclaimed documentary We Dreamed America and when you listen to this you have no option but to dream of America. Moving, descriptive and emotive, this is a beautiful album, ideal for the all America Road Trip or just for wallowing away the night with friends and a bottle of whiskey.
