Into The Next Life –  Steve Ravensfield (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

In this generic label obsessed world we sometimes lose sight of the simple things in life. Whilst some corners of the music industry only seem happy when they have invented a pigeon-hole which describes only one or two bands, yes, metalheads, I’m looking at you, other sonic travellers are unable to be tied down. Not because their music is so boundary pushing or unique, forward thinking or overly complex but just because it leaves a footprint so classic, so familiar yet so deftly done that there seems little point. Steve Ravensfield is just such an artist.

Into The Next Life follows in the footsteps of an endless list of artists who we now think of as icons, Dylan,Young, Waters, Bowie, Clapton, sounding occasionally like all of them but mainly like none in particular, travels familiar territory yet describes it though new eyes…or ears. It is at once the sound of the past, a refreshing addition to the fickle modern industry offerings and a carefully considered slow sonic charge into the future.

You’re the Light is a wonderful mix of new-wave styled rough hewn pop and futuristic folkiness, the opening salvo of Keep On Moving sounds like a long lost Tom Petty gem and the brilliantly titled Dynamite and Answerphones sounds like Springsteen’s early R&B bar band shuffles, the voice certainly helps.

At a point where labels stop being necessary, where artists absorbing the sounds of the past to create a vibrant future, where music boundaries aren’t so much being knocked down but gently nudged forward, you find some great new music and leading that gentle move into the future you find Steve Ravensfield, not so much rose-tinted, just perfectly aware.