Album review: The London Souls - Here Come The Girls

Rocking, soulful, recorded in London... but where are the girls, asks Stephen Moore.

If the album title brings to mind the soundtrack to the Boots TV ads, courtesy of The Sugababes, banish that thought now.

While there is the odd trumpet dotted about, that’s where the similarities end. Instead, we have here a decades-spanning rock record from the New Yorkers, who wear their influences on their sleeve.

Their sophomore album has actually been knocking around for three-and-a-half years - a terrible hit-and-run accident landed guitarist/lead singer Tash Neal in a coma shortly after recording finished in 2012 - but really this music harks back to the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Neal’s light and soulful rasp, perhaps distantly related to Rod Stewart’s, is wrapped around tight arrangements of intricate guitar and pin-sharp percussion.

From the hard-driving rock/country crossover The River to the loping groove and love-hungry lyrics of Crimson Revival - which also boasts the album’s best and gloriously gritty guitar solos - this duo prove themselves capable and comfortable in the shadow of the greats, channelling Hendrix, The Band, The Zombies, The Faces and Led Zep (on delicate acoustic guitar ballad Isabel) to name a few.

The flapper girl trumpet adds fun to the rollicking How Can I Get Through, and the dusky, gently sung-and-strumemd Run Zombie Run later breaks into frantic piano as if soundtracking a ‘20s silent movie.

A fine record.

Rating: 3/5