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Noted for their reggae twists on classic albums like Dark Side of the Moon and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the Easy Star All-Stars have released their first LP of original material, First Light. The 14-track effort not only marks a departure from their themed cover albums, but it also treads loosely into some soul territory.
Expected are the tracks with a bouncy backbeat, reggae guitar rakes and muddy dub basslines like “Easy Now Star” with its comical lyrical back and forth with a ganja farmer and police man “One Likkle Draw.” But the album earns its coherence with its interwoven tracks like the opening and closing “Don’t Stop The Music” and “Break of Dawn”/“In The Light,” which blends the soulful bop of Joanne Williams’ soothing voice and the optimistic rasta horn lines perfectly. “First Light” saunters back and forth before settling into a sunsoaked groove culminating in a rumbling bass-heavy vocal line of “keep on pushin’.”
Overall there isn’t going to be anything that will blow your hair back, but it’s a reggae album, not death metal, so if you’re looking for summer soaked relaxing ganja jams, First Light is perfect to prepare you for a lazy day on the beach…or maybe on your couch with a spliff.
