April 4

Tapeter Records

After being locked away in a rustic country house in the north of Germany to record the follow up to 2006’s Ten Thousand Bars, the Cambridge guitar duo who formed almost 20 years ago have found fine form.

The soft finger picking croon of A Small Dream sets the scene to This Is The Day with the rudimentary use of a solo acoustic guitar and story-telling vocals (told by Ezio Lunedei) conjuring a rich emotion that’s then obliterated with the blues stomp of Bad Bad Place.

As Lundei chunters: “We’re in a bad bad place, we’re all following rules, the money it is put in place, oh you’re really such a fool,  we just want more and more, we don’t count the costs,”  Ezio exhibite feral blues that could soundtrack a car chase somewhere out west.

This Is The Day epitomises the career of Ezio and their wistful country ramblings are hard not to trust as they soak up melody and character into their well constructed tunes.

Yeah you might want to avoid the cheap cheese swing of Bruce Springsteen, that sucks the life from the blissful acoustic balladry that makes Ezio what they are but This Is The Day confirms what you might not already know...Ezio are one of the best kept secrets.

7/10

Posted In Album Reviews, Apr 04 2011. Words - Tom