Black and White World – George Collins Band (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

George Collins has an excellent track record of delivering deftly crafted songs, often leaning into the intimate and understated, acoustic deliveries that incorporate rootsy finesse or straddle the borders of a more gentle rock sound.

Sure, “By the Time” had a whistful and reflective upbeat vibe about it, and “New Way” was a serious song with some profound sentiments, but “Black and White World” is the sound of him really strutting his stuff and enjoying every moment of it. It runs on a staccato groove, electric guitars fire off riffs and salvos big and small, subtle and scintillating, brass attacks and accentuates, beats bounce, and much fun is had by all.

And if his songs are always relatable, often matters of the heart that we all recognise or life experiences that cause us to sagely nod our heads and raise a wry smile, “Black and White World” is also pertinent and poignant. It reminds us that life is not black and white; it is not clear-cut. It is never about binary options, but about nuance and blurred lines, about multiple options and paths that are often obscured. Isn’t that, after all, what makes it such an adventure?

In a way, the song is a rally against the uninformed or inexperienced segment of society who see things too simplistically, too naively, and shout too loudly, encouraging the gullible to be taken in by their words, causing social division and ideological entrenchment, and replacing friendly debate and compromise with us-and-them rhetoric. But in a broader sense, it is also a celebration of those aspects of life where there are no clear answers, just a road to be explored, actual or otherwise.