Coming ahead of a full album to follow, Delta Tales, Free Will In China Blue is the sort of belter that we used to associate with the likes of Leon Russell or Joe Cocker, the type of thing that the team at Muscle Shoals led the way in back in the day, the sort of thing that we might have thought was confined to a bygone age.
But Sun King Rising proves that not only are such songs still being made in the modern era but they even give those earlier icons a run for their money. It’s that good! Soul meets rock meets gospel music, it’s a cracking single, one full of blaring brass attacks, deft piano drives, shuffling beats and sumptuous vocal harmonies. It revels in the place of its birth and is a slice of southern-fried gold.
The track comes backed with Milkweed and Thistle, this time a more blues-rock groover but no less as brilliant and buoyant as its A-side travelling companion.
Can I get me a “hell yeah?”
