The funky roots band Someone You Can XRay from Connecticut have dropped their third CD titled Hot ‘N Fresh. Blending electric and acoustic instruments in songs that have a lot of moving parts, this band proves it can groove while keeping a fine weave of many emotive melody lines.
Opening cut “Brimstone & Perfume” offers a gentle mesh of harmonica, guitars, and everything else that makes a roots rock band. Dana Newman’s girlish, silky voice can easily skip and hopscotch along the peppy beat that every pleasant sound in this song is dancing upon. An electric guitar break mirrors her jumpy, gliding vocal approach and one wishes to move to the fun ups and downs in their groove.
The band’s local hit single “Call Me” saunters in with an irresistible backbeat and Dana Newman’s silky smoothness. A pretty fiddle melody enters and makes it all even sweeter. It’s cool to find a band that can be this hip, swaying with chemistry using so many acoustic instruments. Things get edgier when electric guitarist Bryan Newman kicks his six string into fiery mode accompanied by thick tufts of organ chords from Dana Newman. Simple and hooky, their chorus is one that buries itself in your head.
“Finish Line” is built upon edgy guitar lines, lines that dive and swoop as they move forward. You can’t help but get immediately caught up in their rhythmic pull. Dana Newman rides over this line well with her lilting vocal. Just when we think the song is as cool as it‘s going to get, a fiddle line by Robert “Bobby” Pickett eases its way over the groove and nudges the song along with its brisk interval of notes. It all comes together in a soulful work with spiritual overtones.
“Unbound” is another tastefully laid out number. Its catchy opening guitar notes keep one hooked all the way through. A haunting fiddle line fills the backdrop with foreboding before an electric guitar phrase burns its own path through the land. Each instrument makes its own unique impression as Newman cruises over all with soulful appeal, especially when she’s joined by guest vocalist Chris Bepko. One can feel this song taking you some place special.
“Second Best” grooves in with cool guitar riffs and a smoky organ line. Dana Newman finesses her way across the sonic landscape with a sassy attitude that makes the song feel real. While the guitar burns with attitude, this singer’s stop-start approaches knocks it in your face. She clearly doesn’t like being ‘second best’ and she lets you know it. So does everyone in the band. Things are played with punch here.
“Someone You Know” lets Ms. Newman showcase her harmonica skills. Her pretty harp line makes for a fine mellow touch. A male vocalist contrasts with a rougher timbre and the juxtaposition works well. Newman jumps in on vocals, turning this into a likable duo.
“Nobody’s Perfect” begins with a forlorn fiddle and synth lines. It makes one feel that things are not always obtainable. The lady the song is about can never reach the perfection she strives for and the music captures that beautifully. Dana Newman’s considerate vocal application also brings it home, singing in a mood just a shade short of mournful. An emotive fiddle line brings another touch of sadness and it makes us feel for the person who just cannot realize she just cannot have it all.
Getting old school, the band slides into “Same Old Blues,” sounding enough like blues to be respectful, giving enough freshness to make it their own thing. Ms. Newman adds a sense of honky tonk sass amidst country flavored piano and electric guitar twang. The zip in each instrument makes the song flinty fun as the players show respect for the finest idioms in the roots genres.
Titled “No Anchovies,” it dips and weaves along a reggae path. Its lilting groove gives a bounce to the lead vocal, edgy guitar phrase, and jaunty keyboards. This one might make you want to visit the islands or dance a two step jig. A fiddle takes the spotlight and manages to keep in the roots world, resisting the other pleasant influences in the world it inhabits.
“Bottle To Call My Own” comes into our consciousness as a fiddle line rears its tender head. Soon after, an electric blues guitar accompanies that edgy bowing with its flinty notes. With such a setting, Ms. Newman only needs to release emotive lines in a quiet, considerate pace. This number wins us over for its ability to instantly develop a vibe and then maintain it. Even after things speed up, it is the mesh of guitar gruel, fiddle flint, and vocal touches that keep us in the songs own world. A band just can’t weave these instruments together in such an effective feeling unless they have huge talent and a feel for nuance.
Someone You Can XRay close out with “Xtra Cheese,” an instrumental number that finds each playing moving soulfully into its groove. Bass player Tim Morse keeps a nimble push beneath it all. Drummer Mark Barca smacks out some particularly good fills. The others keep funking things up for the better, a wah wah line is just of many tricks that keep this party vibe spiraling upwards with talent.
Someone You Can XRay have come up with a fine and fancy roots album. All of the dovetailing they perform in each number gives their listener a lot of sound, voice, and instrumentation to chew on. Layered together, each player makes a solid contribution to this seriously good album. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Vic Steffens at Horizon Music Group in Connecticut, the sound quality, naturally, does justice to these roots song with their blend of acoustic and electric instruments.
