Sometimes I get to wondering if all we see on television or iPhone is real and, if it isn’t, is it because there isn’t actually anything real out there anymore. That is, of course, likely to be true of music as the computer readily removes the need for things like real talent and ability but, fortunately for us, there are musicians out there who still do it like it like they mean it and one of them is Francesca De Fazi.
Whilst it is true that her album “Craft Songs” dances with the ghosts of rock music’s past, it is equally clear that she will never be mistaken for a mere revivalist and, while I don’t doubt that this album will get her bookings in summer season festivals throughout Europe, she also has more than her fair her share of the magic that makes a musician stand out from the crowd with the eleven songs that make up this album having both motive power and an unexpected element of quirkiness that captures your attention.
The high standard of musicianship that is a feature of this album also helps the time pass by amiably whether taking an apparently conventional approach – such as in “Post Partum Blues” - or taking a rather more subversive stance as in “Danubio Blues” or “White Lies” and, when you add in the fact that she has cigarettes and whisky in her voice, you get something that is both worldly and imaginative.
Francesca De Fazi gives us blues rock, but she does so with a sophistication not often seen in the genre and that makes “Craft Songs” an album that will shine its lovelight upon you.
Best song? The insistent “Heart in Mind”.
The verdict? Quality shines through.