I had to pour myself a shot of Aquavit to go with listening to the new 12" EP from Thirsty the quite brilliant Nomad EP that is the latest release from Thirsty the current band of original Quireboy Guy Bailey and the Russian Poet Irina D. and along with Simon Hanson from Squeeze and Chris Johnstone also originally from The Quireboys and produced by Chris Kimsey.
I went to the Press Launch for the Ep that also featured an Exhibition of the art that goes with the EP that was painted by Chilean Pato Bosich much of which featured a palette of deep reds and gold with the odd blue splashes to evoke some desolate landscapes. Should you want too they are selling a small amount of copies with handmade sleeves for £300 rather than the £15 of a standard copy. The art was painted in collaboration with the band around the time while they were recording the EP and the themes in the art intertwine with the themes in the music.
The ep opens with Mercury Rising that has a stop motion film that goes with it showing a crucifixion parade and plenty of Pato Bosich's art that accentuates the desert blues that sees the temperatures rising with Guy's majestic slide guitar as you know something else is going to happen at the end of the parade a very cool sound.
Even Keel has some very cool organ at the start as Guy tries to keep his jealousy of the men his love fantasises about on an even keel and under control with Kristi Kimsey's vocal counterpoint to the jealous lover are beguiling and it all sounds like a Ry Cooder Gospel blues being bruised by Nikki Sudden.
Solar is lazy and hazy as Irina D's vocals sound like a cross between Marianne Faithful and Francois Hardy matter of fact telling us this tale of despair while from the sound of it smoking some Gauloise and drinking red wine.
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The b-side opens with Small Talk is matter of fact reportage blues about a relationship and what other people tell you about your partner and the advice they give you that you may not want to hear over some very down and dirty early 70's very dissolute Rolling Stones style blues which with Chris Kimsey producing is no surprise.
Green Grass meanwhile is pulling Guy Bailey down to where the grass grows with some very rural blues with sparse but effective drums accentuating the lyrics nicely.
Albatross (Remix) has been properly mixed for Vinyl and sounds stunning and also has a very cool video to go with it with some very cool art and the tale of the Albatross which is a dark and wonderfully bruised blues like Charlie Lankester and dark and stained like Nikki Sudden as the very carefully and at times almost background Guitar slowly builds into a show stopping magnificent climax to leave me wanting to hear more from Thirsty and to see more of Pato Bosich's artwork.
Find out more about the best blues 12" single your likely to hear this year at. http://www.thirstymusic.co.uk/ https://www.patobosich.com/
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