Album review: TK Webb and The Visions – Ancestor

Well, he’s only gone and done it. After two albums of solo work, TK Webb (Thomas to his parents) has admitted what was becoming fairly obvious: namely, he’d need a band to play the music he was now writing. So, after his previous pair of twisted, gnarly delta blues albums he and The Visions are up and at ‘em with Ancestor, a sparkly paean to seventies disco.

Nah, not really. Ancestor fits into that peculiar genre I can only describe as Stadium Blues. The CD racks aren’t exactly short of such albums right now so you have to ask “do we need another?”; the only answer to which is: “if it’s good, why not?”.

TK Webb really likes guitars. I mean really, even for a blues artist. Ancestor‘s sound is far more sumptuous than the visceral thrills of John Spencer, far more textured than the simple joys of The Black Keys and far more willing to explore outside the strictures of the genre than… well, let’s not throw stones at anyone in particular here.

“But isn’t blues rock an old man’s game now? Surely The Youth ^TM have moved on to Casio keyboards and rave whistles?” I hear you ask. Not one to shy from doing the hard yards, I tested Ancestor on old people in Waitrose car park and they hated it (and me for playing it). I then tested TK Webb on my hot young neighbour; she liked it so much she stole the CD, so the answer to my hypothetical question would appear to be “no”. And that’s science.

At the risk of sounding like a muso bore, I have to remark on the gorgeous production of Ancestor; it’s a real pleasure to listen to. Even at its heaviest it never tires you out and – because the album hasn’t been compressed ‘til the life has been squeezed from it – there’s plenty of room for light and shade, and more than enough space for the three hundred guitars that appear to have been layered on to every track.

Considering the relative brevity of the tracks (for a blues record anyway) the songs are pretty bloody massive, with tracks like “Teen is Still Shaking” and “Shame” building a huge, almost glam edifice that is surely topped with fire and wind… and guitar. TK Webb has a real ear for riffs which he’s happy to grind out relentlessly on the likes of the frankly wonderful “Dreen Drone Death” (the sound of a zombie holocaust if the undead used Fenders as their main weapon), or to set rolling before twist noodly solos around and around them (pretty much every other track).

The slow numbers really are reminiscent of those on the recent Black Keys album, with that pleasing country twang fed through reverbs apparently the size of the moon (“1000 Horns” does this extremely effectively); Ancestor really is the least urban album to emerge from Brooklyn for quite some time.

So, who wouldn’t like TK Webb, then? I guess people who don’t really, really like guitars might find Ancestor‘s charms fading reasonably swiftly. Oh, and people who like lyrics to be to the point (I think the album’s about sex and boredom, but I could be way out); this album will drive them nuts.

And who would like this album? Everyone else, I’d imagine; it’s really pretty fine.