Chriss Sutherland “Worried Love” (Peapod, 2009)

Anglo Mexicana?

Sutherland used to be part of Cerebus Shoal and Fire On Fire, who’s album ‘The Orchard’ I’ve also just received for review. Blimey I’ve never heard of any of these guys before and then two albums arrive at the same time.

Writing and recording in both English and Spanish, Sutherland brings a sunny Mediterranean flavour to the proceedings with ‘desde Alicante (ala a Toke and a Puff)’ his own ‘El Tiempo’ and his cover of ‘Volando Voy’. So he’s not Tex-Mex, he’s “Anglo Mexicana”.

‘What Are We Gonna Do Now?’ and ‘Hey Justice’ are the “recommended” tracks here according to his PR, and for once they’re right. The former sees Sutherland joined by his former Fire On Fire band member, Colleen Kinsella, and the latter is a spoken narrative over some fine guitar picking, with some subtle oud, provided by Thomas Kovacevic, which doesn’t sound out of place and demonstrates some of Sutherland’s world music influences like Salif Keita, Thomas Mapfumo and Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan.

‘My Mind Blues III’ starts off as with more guitar picking underneath some complex lyrics and slowly builds to an inconclusive finish. ‘New Morning Pine St’ also utilises the same picking style, probably too much, with Sutherland’s gruff narrative opining his joy at having his partner in his life as she awakes, gets dressed and leaves for work.

Overall this album is a good example how to incorporate influences from around the world whilst not straying too far away from what we refer to as “Americana”. Which really is a generic term for local music; wherever you may be in the world.

Date review added:  Monday, May 04, 2009
Reviewer:  Phil Edwards
Reviewers Rating:
Related web link:  Chriss Sutherland MySpace website