A third live rendition of dependable blues from the Australian siblings.
These days, americana acts filling sizeable venues in the UK, despite not being household names, is not unusual, which is testament to the growth of the genre and its worldwide appeal. Josh and Sam Teskey from Melbourne have now released three studio and three live albums. The latest of the latter is culled from three 2024 shows at the Apollo, which some readers might have attended, in which case you can enjoy the straight-to-tape recording. Note that the vinyl version omits two of the ten tracks.
Six of those ten are versions of songs which appeared on their 2023 set, “The Winding Way”, given that the duo were touring that album as they played their Apollo shows. Graham Bollands of this site gave it a very favourable 9/10 review, complimenting their “infectious energy” which is naturally taken from studio to stage. ‘I’m Leaving’, which opens the studio album, closes the live set to echo the hopes Josh has to meet old friends again.
Four tracks follow the order in which they appear on the album. ‘Oceans Of Emotions’ captures a love where Josh’s “heart is torn between the rose and the thorn”, with some melodic brass riffs near the end of the song, while ‘Take My Heart’ is about a father’s love for his children, who are “the air that I breathe”. The song’s final minute includes some impressively controlled vocalising.
‘London Bridge’, an appropriate number due to the city in which this live album is recorded, has some guitar punctuations from Sam that complement the lead vocal, where Josh sings of how a “cosy and warm” house is hot because it is “burning”. The mellow ‘Carry Me Home’, with some blues harmonica and fraternal harmonies, is a plea to be reunited with one of those children, complete with the pathos-laden line “will your little eyes still remember me?” “Thank you for indulging us,” says one of the brothers after the song, but that’s what people have paid to hear.
Set opener ‘Man Of The Universe’ and ‘Paint My Heart’ are both culled from the 2019 album “Run Home Slow”. The former, with trumpet and sax from Audrey Powne and Lily Shaw respectively, has an aurally appealing arrangement to match Josh’s croon, with which he compares himself to “a strong flowing river that’s never been dammed”. The latter begins with over two minutes of fine guitar work before the rest of the song unfurls itself over 12 minutes, with slow and ornate verses sung by Josh and a punchier instrumental section, which begins at the seven-minute mark, with Sam’s solo passages.
Immediately following this, ‘What Will Be’, the eight-minute closing track of “The Winding Way”, is here spun out to 15 minutes. “I’ll be the Mayflower for your monsoon,” Josh promises after starting the song with two minutes of opulent vocalisations; at five minutes, the drums hit every beat of the bar to change the tenor of the song, and then two minutes afterwards there’s a big cheer for the return of the shimmering harmonica. The harp recurs in the closing coda, leading the band in a series of solo blasts that pepper most soul revues, although the band fudge one of them amiably to show the brothers are human.
They also play their very first release, ‘Forever You And Me’, as well as a cover of ‘Try A Little Tenderness’, updating the soul standard made famous by Otis Redding, which hints at where Josh got his vocal style from. There’s a reason the old soul style never goes out of fashion: it cannot be improved upon, and all praise to the Australian brothers who travel the world bringing it to the masses.
