E D Brayshaw - Fire Without Water (2020)

I first heard of E D Brayshaw as part of the ‘The Roads We Ride’ release with co-conspirator Wily Bo Walker: a huge epic Blues, Americana collaboration that painted some great pictures. This first solo release is very different though, with Brayshaw putting the guitar front and centre and taking a more direct route. What we get is a nice mix of Blues, Garage Rock and passages of Joe Strummer, Dire Straits and even a touch of the fire of New Model Army!

We start though with the Tom Waits-like smoky groove of ‘Hadn’t Found You’, a song that has more than shot of Blues. That’s followed by the Jam meets Dire Straits pub rock of ‘Say What You Will’ and the contrastingly expansive, guitar led ‘When the Walls Come Down’, and early highlight.

The secret of success here is in the variety though. There’s the almost early New Model Army intensity of ‘I Hear the Rain’ with its growling vocal and spiky guitar, and a daub of Country/Southern Rock flavour accenting ‘Said and Done’. ‘The Call’ is a Garage Rock, whilst in complete contrast ‘Reckless’ is an ‘epic’ that involves the said ‘kitchen sink’ with Brayshaw’s Bluesy groove and solo taking on a life of its own. There’s some serious chops and its the kind of song you don’t want to end.

The just leaves closer ‘Twilight’ to take us out with a soulful Bluesy guitar solo infused instrumental that all seems rather fitting. It may be only eight tracks on the album, but we cover a lot of ground here with great variety that never once gets old. Brayshaw plays everything here but the drums which makes this first solo effort all the more remarkable. Well worth investigating. by Mark Diggins