‘Shake The Tree’ is NELL BRYDEN'S second album release, and follows on from 2007s ‘Second Time Around’. Nell is a Brooklyn born singer songwriter, and although all the songs on this album were recorded in England, this album clearly falls within the Americana genre. The twelve tracks on this album stand out head and shoulders above a lot of what is around now due to the lyrical quality. Nell is a first class storyteller.
The album opens with ‘Mercy On Me’, a sort of country/gospel track that uses acoustic guitar and heavy bass. This track simply thunders along. Lyrically, this song inhabits territory that has previously been covered by Johnny Cash, and more recently some of Tom Jones’ work on ‘Praise and Blame’. However, Nell proves here that she can certainly give the guys a run for their money in the fire and brimstone stakes: -“Fourteen days in May, and I’m thinking ‘bout my life Thinkin’ about what lies beyond this stage/ Fourteen days of reckoning. The fire and the rain/ Fourteen days to pray I might be saved/ They handed me a smoking gun, there’s no release my time has come/ May God have mercy on me.”
As an entree, this really is brilliant, and as a result, it does tend to put the next track, ‘Buildings and Treetops’ into the shadows. ‘Buildings and Treetops’ has just been released as a single, has received some favourable airplay, and stands up well on its own, but here following ‘Mercy on Me’ it seems a little lightweight. If this had been the opening track on the album, then this wouldn’t have been so noticeable. That said, there is nothing wrong with the track, it is bright and poppy, and once again features some descriptive lyrics, this time all about the failure of a relationship: - “Everything is packed away, boxes labelled with your name/ I can’t believe you’re gone/ Your favourite records that we’d listen to, little souvenirs of you/ I’m trying to stay strong.”
‘Sirens’ which follows raises the bar when it comes to atmosphere. A slow brooding masterpiece which features some echoey guitar, this song again touches on the emotions: - “Last night I dreamt I was floating with you. The river so deep and the sky perfect blue/ If we leave behind the dust and the sky, from the sound of sirens the city will rise/ Hold your hand in mine, we’ll swim against the tide/ From the sound of sirens, our love will survive/ And when your heart is on the run, when its chains have come undone/ I will always be the one to carry you home.”
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Nell’s never afraid to bare her feelings feelings, such as on ‘Couldn’t Love You More’, an excellent track that carries the same sort of atmosphere you find on the best of Chris Isaak’s work: “Late at night when I think of us together. Wonder what tomorrow’s gonna bring?/ Tried so hard to make this last forever but I don’t understand the state we’re in.”
‘If I Forget’, meanwhile, is another great track which comes across as something that could easily have been on the radio in the late 1950s, featuring electric guitars and some reverb, this is a classic love song, and although the lyrics may appear simplistic, they certainly get the message across: - “Darlin’ I may be far away, it may be late at night when I call/ If I forget to tell you, I hope you know I love you/ If I don’t say I miss you, I hope you know I do.”
Hopefully Nell should be lining up some high profile gigs fairly soon, so give this a listen and get to one of the venues, you won’t regret it. It's a strong, Americana-related release, one of the best out there right now.
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