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With AI-generated music looming large in the background, and “artists” such as “Eddie Dalton” actually breaking into the Official UK Singles Charts (meaning that the Official Charts endorses computer trickery), it’s a palate cleanser when an album like ‘Love Is A Wish Away’ lands on the desk. Previously only available digitally, the latest album from legendary bassist-singer-songwriter Felice Rosser (FaithNYC) is now getting a long-awaited physical release.
Often referred to as a punk rock doyenne (a doyenne refers to the oldest, most experienced, and most respected woman in a particular field, profession, or group), Felice Rosser has decades of life experience under her belt. From Detroit to the battle-scarred grounds of the punk clubs of lower Manhattan, Rosser, as a black woman, was quite a unique presence: “There weren’t so many black people on the scene at that time,” but punk, she admits, “was a liberator for women. Young black women played violin and piano when I was growing up in Detroit, but not Rock’n’Roll instruments – bass, guitar and drums.”
As varied as the streets of NYC that influence the album, it’s best not to get too carried away with what genre to pigeonhole FaithNYC; go with the flow, and enjoy what is on offer. It’s (as you would expect) thick on bass grooves, but not to the point of self-indulgence. ‘I Stood Up’, for instance, is hypnotic thanks to the bass from Rosser, as well as the living-breathing percussion from Fin Hunt, which meshes touches of funk and reggae and sounds like it was cooked up there and then with all the players in the same room.
Before the cool breeze of ‘I Stood Up’, there are the joys to be found in the title track, and all the magic that Rosser’s BIG voice brings with it. Insanely catchy thanks to the beats and glorious backing vocals, it’s one of those moments that causes the listener to instantly reach for the rewind button as soon as it’s finished. Completing a stellar opening trio of hugely varied tracks is the guitar-led (courtesy of Robert Plant/Tinariwen collaborator Justin Adams) strains of ‘Eagle Street’ which is so laidback that it glides rather than walks. The percussion from Hunt runs the vocals from Rosser a close second.
Highlights lurk around every corner; the dulcet guitar tones from Adams and the brooding undercurrent that runs through ‘Can I Make It Up to You?’ make it hard to resist; the Trip-Hop vibes on ‘Love in a Silent Way’ bleed seamlessly into the reggae-infused ‘Useless’; while the explosion of sound that greets the arrival ‘Overpass heralds in a full-pelt rocker with some killer guitar fireworks.
A joy from start to finish, and one in the eye for “Eddie Dalton”.
Available as a 2LP Yellow & Blue Vinyl & Digipack CD, more information HERE.
Review – Dave
Photo by Caroline Conejeho
