Buffalo Tales – Blood & Bone (27/09/2012)
He was a hit on Australian Idol but he decided to turn his back on all that. Instead he’d turn independent and release an EP. Although this sounds a lot like Matt Corby we’re actually talking about Wes Carr or Buffalo (and now technically, Buffalo Tales).
Confused? Well, Wes Carr decided to adopt the Buffalo-esque moniker because in Native American culture this is symbolic of returning to your roots. Carr had been a working musician prior to appearing on TV, and in the lead up to turning 30 he had been doing an awful lot of soul-searching, something that punctuates all of the songs here.
Blood & Bone features four tracks of stripped-back acoustic music which at times sounds a lot like Angus Stone in that it offers something more than just another folk-wielding guy with an acoustic guitar. The title track boasts this instrument but it uses a catchy, Beatlesque sound for a song that’s about the passage of time. But at its worst the lyrics are clichéd as they talk about wanting what you don’t have and about things passing you by.
For ‘Lost’ Carr paired up with Cold Chisel’s Don Walker to write about the feeling of being lost and floundering in life. Here, Carr’s vocals sound like Bryan Adams but there is more of a country-twang in the guitar work. Guest, Elana Stone’s vocals soar and when multi-tracked give the feel of a full-blown, gospel choir.
‘Eighty-Eight’ sees Carr seated at the piano where the grooves and melody are bent every which way so that we go from doom and gloom to an upbeat ditty. The lyrics read like a list as Carr goes through the many reasons to love you.
There is something universal and raw in Carr’s sound as he negotiates life from his rural hometown in South Australia via Sydney and ultimately to the big lights of L.A. Blood & Bone is a pensive reflection that plays like a series of diary entries tracing his journey through the past while remaining grounded in optimism and the present.
Natalie Salvo
Confused? Well, Wes Carr decided to adopt the Buffalo-esque moniker because in Native American culture this is symbolic of returning to your roots. Carr had been a working musician prior to appearing on TV, and in the lead up to turning 30 he had been doing an awful lot of soul-searching, something that punctuates all of the songs here.
Blood & Bone features four tracks of stripped-back acoustic music which at times sounds a lot like Angus Stone in that it offers something more than just another folk-wielding guy with an acoustic guitar. The title track boasts this instrument but it uses a catchy, Beatlesque sound for a song that’s about the passage of time. But at its worst the lyrics are clichéd as they talk about wanting what you don’t have and about things passing you by.
For ‘Lost’ Carr paired up with Cold Chisel’s Don Walker to write about the feeling of being lost and floundering in life. Here, Carr’s vocals sound like Bryan Adams but there is more of a country-twang in the guitar work. Guest, Elana Stone’s vocals soar and when multi-tracked give the feel of a full-blown, gospel choir.
‘Eighty-Eight’ sees Carr seated at the piano where the grooves and melody are bent every which way so that we go from doom and gloom to an upbeat ditty. The lyrics read like a list as Carr goes through the many reasons to love you.
There is something universal and raw in Carr’s sound as he negotiates life from his rural hometown in South Australia via Sydney and ultimately to the big lights of L.A. Blood & Bone is a pensive reflection that plays like a series of diary entries tracing his journey through the past while remaining grounded in optimism and the present.
Natalie Salvo