The album that was released before this one, Let Love Show The Way, was a huge surprise for me. It totally blew me away as I loved their brand of roots blues and funk. So I was expecting big things from Rise & Shine, but with a lot of bands around at the minute, they didn’t want to repeat themselves and wanted to keep the creativity going – even if it takes away from the success they already received. This album is a lot harder to get into and it takes a lot of plays for it to dissolve into your soul.
It’s a very groovy record, and on tracks like Meditation they nail it perfectly. Such a sexy vibe, a great melody, and some very subtle guitar with nice clean tones make this one of my favourite songs by the band. The track, Shine, musically has a Stevie Wonder Higher Ground feel to it but the lyrics are very old school RnB. The final track, I Pray, at times is the heaviest sounding piece on the record, and then it’s the most thought provoking track on the album.
This is a very varied album. If you give it time I’m sure you will be rewarded with a deep listening experience that at times goes from pure psychedelia, to soulful blues and funk.
8.5/10 from The Grooveman.
