Album Review: White Ash Falls, By The River Bend

Vancouver pop rock band, Yukon Blonde's bassist, Andy Bishop, has released the debut album, By the River Bend as White Ash Falls via Light Organ Records this week. 

This new project by Bishop is the mirror that reflects who he is. With his profound attachment to the genre, where he is naturally capable of expressing himself in the deepest way, Bishop hauls out from his lungs with a collection of raw folk tunes. These tunes transmit the lively energy of him and his fellow musicians and  they leave a deep impression with sliding acoustic guitar and echoing vocal from the first listen.

In the strip-down tune, Your Song, Bishops' delicate voice expands to the fullest with the resonating humming.  I Can't Get Enough, the hauling harmonica triggers the plaintive feeling from the beginning. My favorite tune in the album,  Whatever You Want, a soulful a capella escalates the speed of the tune as my heart beats quicker followed by a bluesy up-temp verses. Spinner compares his work with musicians like John Mayer or Gavin DeGraw, I think his music reaches somewhere deeper than what these artists can do to me.