Album cover for Baby I'll Play by The Thomas Oliver Band. Photo / Supplied
Album cover for Baby I'll Play by The Thomas Oliver Band. Photo / Supplied
Stars: 2.5/5
Verdict: Debut from Welly rockers needs more grunt
You might know Wellingtonian Thomas Oliver and his music-making mates from the video to toe-tapping porch song Goin' Home, the one where the band make their instruments out of junk they find in the woods. It's very cool. However, aflash and clever video is all very well, but how does the music stack up? Not too badly, although a little on the earnest side.
That song, which opens the band's debut album, comes across something like a bluesy Ben Harper track, before giving way to a set of songs that are predominantly in the blues-rock jam-band territory.
The band are at their most interesting when they veer into the psychedelic wah wah-meets-plucking distortion of Stevie Ray Vaughan on the muscular blues of the title track and the sprawling Still Insane.
Elsewhere there's the slow-motion country of Take My Word; there are moments that recall the Feelers, with Oliver's voice a mix of raw-throated and mainstream rock a la James Reid; and for all of Sing Me to Sleep's wild and grand ambition, it lulls you into a slumber more than a trippy dream.
So while Baby, I'll Play is a solid and well-played debut record, it has its ineffectual moments.
The thing it could use is some unbridled grit, and a bit more rabble-rousing fun but that will perhaps come with more time on the road playing rock'n'roll and blues. So hit the road Thomas and let loose.
