The Life And Soul
Mamas Gun look set to become the next big thing with their new album The Life And Soul. It’s a great record that shows an impressive amount of influenced that are channelled to perfection. As if a bonus track cover of Queen’s ‘Bicycle Race’ wasn’t a big clue that Mamas Gun are influenced by the legendary quartet, the solo for the wonderful title track seems to channel the Queen vibe. It’s a stunning early moment that cements this album as something a bit special. The soul and emotion on ballad ‘We Make It Look So Easy’ has easy crossover appeal after the recent success of Plan B’s soul album The Defamation of Strickland Banks. For all the talk of their influences, Mamas Gun certainly have their own sound, carried by beautiful vocals against simple but effective instrumentation. Defining Mamas Gun as a pop album is, whilst at times accurate, doing the band’s diversity as disservice. They cover a huge range of styles, with ‘On A String’ feeling like a soul-funk track from decades ago. That’s not to say it feels old or “retro”, rather it feels almost timeless. The Life And Sound is an album that has a wide scope of genres, with tracks that could bit hits in a huge range of scenes. At its heart, this does feel like a contemporary soul album with some rock n’ roll swagger, and sounds like something that would excel in a live environment. Andy Platts carries this album throughout, with flawless vocals that add to every single track. His song writing is also noteworthy, creating an exciting modern update for the funk-soul genre that doesn’t fall into the trap of just being a tired tribute to a bygone era. This is fresh and exciting, as is ‘Only One’, a duet Platts co-wrote and performs with Beverley Knight. Perhaps Platts’ best moment on the record is ‘The Art’, an emotional and utterly moving piano-accompanied ballad. All to often the inclusion of strings on a ballad sound forced and unnecessary. Occasionally, however, they add to the track, creating a wonderfully atmospheric song that showcases the incredible talent this band have. The album ends (besides the bonus track) with ‘Get A High’ another stunning soul ballad with a lot of power behind it, bringing The Life And Soul to a fitting conclusion. If Mamas Gun don’t truly hit the mainstream by the end of the year, it’s an absolute travesty. This is already a forerunner for one of the best albums of the year. Female First - Alistair McGeorge