A great album full of soul, warmth and character and songs about moving on, love and life changes.
This is The Teskey Brothers’ third album, following on from 2017’s ‘Half Mile Harvest‘ and 2019’s ‘Run Home Slow‘. Named after the street they lived on as children, it is a tribute to that special home (in which, by the way, they built the studio where those first two albums were recorded) as well as about themes of moving on, love and life changes. Indeed, things have moved on, with a change in line up- bassist Brendon Love and drummer Liam Gough left last year to be replaced by Fabian Shaw and Evan Mannell respectively- and a change of place, with vocalist Josh Teskey and brother Sam, guitarist and engineer, choosing to head to Sydney to record with acclaimed producer Eric J Dubowsky (Flume, Chet Faker, The Chemical Brothers). “We didn’t want to go for a producer that was too close to our genre,” says Sam, who collaborated with Dubowsky on the production. “We just wanted to branch out a bit and try to explore someone who was a bit down a different avenue.”
The result is fantastic. The bigger and more adventurous sound, featuring expansive strings and sweeping horns, fits perfectly with Josh’s rich, soulful and quite superb voice and their perfect vocal harmonies. There is an infectious energy to each of the ten songs, which recall sounds of the past- a Muscle Shoals/ Memphis Stax groove- while still feeling fresh and modern. There are wistful, slower-paced tracks such as album opener ‘I’m Leaving‘, about moving away from their childhood home, the soulful ballad ‘Take My Heart‘, inspired by Josh’s love for his two children, and the folky ‘Carry Me Home‘; there are tracks such as lead single ‘Oceans Of Emotion‘ and the stirring cover of The Zombies’ ‘This Will Be Our Year‘, which showcase the brilliant string and brass arrangements. And then there are the last two tracks, the bluesy ‘Remember The Time‘ and the epic ‘What Will Be‘, quite possibly saving the most exciting and upbeat moments till the end.
‘The Winding Way‘ is an album full of soul, warmth and character, and it is no wonder that The Teskey Brothers are becoming increasingly well known and popular. Their success is very much deserved.
