Blues Arcadia Calls for Action with Now or Never
Blues Arcadia, a Brisbane-based band, released their second album, ‘Now or Never’ on February 14 2023, four years after the debut album, Carnival of Fools. During the pandemic, the band worked hard to write and record the album, reflecting on the difficult issues facing the world, including religion, abortion, and the US gun lobby, as well as more personal subjects such as sexual politics, gender dysphoria, and the economy. The album expands on the band’s “dirty soul” sound, incorporating elements of funk and jazz, while still grounded in the blues. The album’s lyrics speak to direct experience, with songs such as Feet Don’t Fail Me Now and More Than Less written during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Starting off with the song ‘Dollar Bill’ which predicted the global inflation panic, the album sets its tone as not your run-of-the-mill mindless collection of songs. The song Thoughts & Prayers is about religion, abortion, and gun laws in the US and is a highlight of the album. Postmodern Times is about how we’re all dancing to the algorithm, having exchanged our data for digital convenience, and the dynamic of people being awful to each other on social media. The band has augmented its signature “dirty soul” sound with fresh forays into funk and jazz, while never straying too far from its grounding in the blues. Guitarist Chris Harvey fuses the fluency of Stevie Ray Vaughan with the more traditional blues stylings of the “Three Kings” (Albert, Freddie and B.B.), while Keys player Paula Girvan brings the jazz and Blues Arcadia rhythm section (bassist Jeremy Klysz and drummer Casper Hall) brings the funk.
Boyle sings it like he lives it, wrenching every last drop of sweat, passion, and emotion from lyrics that speak to direct experience. The arts and music industry is struggling due to a lack of government support, making live shows harder to pull off and festivals struggling to sell enough tickets to cover their overheads. Blues Arcadia has made the best album they’ve ever made and is putting on their biggest-ever tour to bring it around the country.
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Photo credits: Jack Venables
Review by: Gabe Finch