Blues, Polished, Yet Crunchy: Hollis Brown

[l1]A[/l1][az]B002P31V3U[/az]t the opening guitar riff, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a good crunchy blues or one of those polished pablum tunes from the radio. Turns out, Hollis Brown’s Show Love is polished and crunchy at the same time. I find myself humming the tune for hours after I’ve heard it, and the musicianship is a nice balance between expected and exceptional. It makes a real difference having a vocalist who sounds like a real person and not an escapee from a boy band.

Neat use of two complementary guitars. Every time the opening riff is repeated it feels more fun. Then the song ends with an inverted version of the riff that seems to die out before it was finished; somebody didn’t feel the need to be overly serious about the whole thing (the word ‘fun’ keeps coming to mind about the whole song.)

There’s a keyboard back there somewhere that only gets a few chances to peek out. I especially like the subtle Beatles ref in the chorus. I defy you not to tap your foot to this one.