Heal My Blues - Dani Wilde Album Review

Album Review

Young Turkette: Plays like an old hand.

Dani Wilde hasn’t made it to free online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. At this rate it won’t be long before she does. The future looks very promising for 21 year old Brighton - based Dani Wilde. She’s a rare bird in terms of the Blues. Most ladies tend to be Blues shouters (there are exceptions – Lisa Mills, Bonnie Raitt). Wilde is more Blues wailer and bit of a revelation too.

For a young gun, she certainly knows how to pack a punch, when needed. There’s nothing gratuitous about her singing of guitar work – it’s measured and stirring.

Her voice and guitar playing are instruments of mass destruction. She could trade places with many a blues icon right now even.

Heal My Blues is a mix of romping R&B, nuclear blasts and tender soulful blues ballads. What’s even more remarkable is that she’s written all the songs (except I’m Going Down – Norman Whitfield, Little By Little –London/Wells, in The Mood – JL Hooker) with her hot band of four bringing the best out of the tracks. Having gained a BA Honours Degree in music, she’s well blessed with theory and practice all pooled onto this excellent collection. She’s done her homework, and it’s paid off.

Making an impressive start, she’s gone for the ultimate hook - a short solo and harmonica break by bro Will Wilde that prefix a stomping Bring Your Loving Home. It’s the same old story, of supposed infidelity. Towards the song’s close, she unleashes a deft solo rubber-stamping her quality. On the R&B groove of Heal My Blues she unleashes another cannon – her squeal: it’s sexy and cute. Come Undone is your standard Blues throbbing romp, dripping in more harmonica and yet another disciplined solo at its key point. On I Love You more….she’s goes for a more hangdog approach with the ever present Will blowing his harp in a sensual and dig-deep style. This track brings back memories of Led Zeppelin’s I Can’ Quit You Babe, with Dani dazzling as she masterfully sustains some impressive notes, probably the best on the album. She also finds her mojo on the heartfelt lyrics. I’m In The Mood is yer Delta blues: sparse, intoxicating, soulful. This is also her finest vocal performance. Vocally, comparisons have been made with Joss Stone, and it surfaces on Norman Whitfield’s I’m Going Down. Her singing style has morphed once again - its beguiling, punchy and very powerful on this soulful classic. It’s much of the same for closer People Like You.

This acoustic lead ballad sees Wilde giving yet another stunning vocal performance. Lyrically, Heal My Blues deals with the genre’s standard issues, heartache, misery, love and hope, all rolled into a fantastic debut.

Catch her live at Telfords Warehouse Chester on Saturday 4 June. Free before 10pm. £4 after.

File under: Could be a sensation.

Elly Roberts