Anton & The Colts are a Glasgow based Blues Rock group currently made up of Anton O’Donnell on Guitar/Vocals, Roscoe Wilson on Guitar/Vocals, Neil McKenzie on bass, Anne Dunlop on backing vocals, Pedro Cameron on fiddle, and Graeme Newbury on drums. Today I’ll be reviewing their album ‘No End Of The Line’ which was released September 7th 2018. Also if you want to find out more about the band then check out this Interview I did with them a few weeks ago.
‘Alright’ opens with a tight, countryish guitar intro, that melds perfectly with the vocalist who’s voice has that grit and presence that makes Americana so good. I hadn’t experienced the band before this track but I’m glad that I’ve got the chance now, and this track if you’ll forgive the terrible attempt at a joke is more than ‘Alright’. This is a really smooth first track, I especially enjoy the vocal harmonies towards the end of the track, the counterpoint of the male and female voices really works with the track.
‘Blues To Bed’ has a very lively guitar intro, it makes me think of the song that stops abruptly when a stranger walks into a small town bar in some country movie. But imagery aside, it’s a really strong track, it’s got a nice energy to it, subdued but active, the kind of track you can bob your head to or tap your toe but it’s not about moving so much as just listening and enjoying it. Again I have to compliment the harmonies which added to the track, and because I love it’s inclusion in tracks, specially shout out to the harmonica which really helped to sell the vibe of the track.
‘My Black Dog & Me’ is tonally different from the previous two tracks, heavier, slower and just that bit darker but still powerful and well worth a listen. Even the vocals shift to match the tone set by the instrumental section. And the vocalist pulls it off showing that they can manage to do a lot with their voice. While I really enjoyed the previous entries, so far this one is my favourite in the album, something about it just really resonated with me. Also the guitars in this one were especially great.
‘From My Fear’ more upbeat after the last track, and more swinging, it breaks up things quite nicely and gets you moving again, it’s also back to the smooth americana feel that was present in the first two tracks. I think the hook in this one was very strong, I found myself humming and singing this track to myself after hearing it for the first time. And while I’m prone to getting tracks stuck in my head it’s usually only the good ones that I find myself singing throughout the day.
‘My Favourite Song’ opens with smokey vocals counting to four, before breaking into a well composed instrumental section, and some more strong vocals. I often focus just on the voice and the style and neglect mentioning the lyrics when I do these reviews, I guess to avoid…spoilers? I don’t exactly know why to be honest but I do need to point out that I thought the lyrics in this track were strong as well. The strong was certainly good enough that it earned a top spot in my personal favourites on the album, even if it wasn’t quite ‘My Favourite Song’.
‘Gypsy Heart’ opens with the clack of drumsticks, which I liked although I did expect it to be followed by drumming, instead it kind of subverted my expectation and just exploded forward with a full set of instruments, It worked really well and had me hooked straight away. Also has the honour? I guess of being the most melodic inclusion of the phrase ‘cocaine lounge’ that I’ve ever heard.
‘Under My Skin & The Thorn In My Side’ is a really strong title for a track, so I went in wanting to like this one and I really did, it opens with joint male and female vocals, which I mentioned I liked in previous tracks, and utilises them really strongly, giving the singers in question a real chance to shine.
‘The Summer That Could Never Be Outdone’ has a nice guitar intro, very classic, a nice pace to it, and some nice vocal harmonies again, this song is already a really strong entry but overall it seems really relaxed and that’s part of its appeal. I think this one steals the top slot as my personal favourite on the album.
‘Rock ‘n’ A Hard Place’ is a more classic country rock track, but it’s by no means predictable, it’s very catchy and memorable, much like ‘From My Fear’ I found myself singing it after first listening to it.
‘Weekend Millionaire’ opens with nice flowing guitar and harmonica, just washing over you, a nice chill track to finish things off. Easy to listen to but hard to forget.
So that’s what I thought of Anton & The Colts album ‘No End Of The Line’ and if you want to check that out for yourself then head on over to Bandcamp. And make sure and support the group by following them on Facebook and Twitter.
First Published on: https://offtherecordblog.org/
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