Hey Showtime – Blind Uncle Harry (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

There is something wonderfully ragged yet brilliantly on the mark about Blind Uncle Harry‘s music. Although, as musicians, we are always taught to play tight to the beat and create a uniform and unified sound, the best players always approach their job from a position of feel and mood rather than from precision and exactitude. It’s called making music in the moment, which is the overriding factor driving Harry and the gang’s creative hand. None more so than here, on the latest single.

Hey Showtime works because the playing is arrayed around the beat rather than landing exactly on in. It ebbs and flows, it moves according to feel rather than format. It’s a tricky thing to get right. Become too undisciplined, and you sound slovenly. Get too precise, and you risk sounding uptight and lifeless. Blind Uncle Harry’s ragged-trousered sonic philanthropists get it just right, resulting in a loose and relaxed sound.

Soulful and folky, woven from strands of understated rock, island vibes, and alt-pop intrigue, Hey Showtime is a unique and mellifluous affair. It is a song built of relaxed sonics and about one of the oldest feelings in the world: the blossoming of a new love.