The LH Express – Painting Stars
Self-produced CD
10 songs – 51 minutes
A 2018 best-new-band nominee in the prestigious Maple Blues Awards, The LH Express went on to release a CD that topped radio charts in their native Canada. They return to the studio for the first time in four years with this expressive disc – a purposeful release that successfully aims to deliver hope and optimism in a world plagued with problems.
Formerly known as The Lucas Haneman Express, the band formed in the mid-2010s and reached the semi-finals at the 2016 International Blues Challenge shortly after releasing their debut CD, Welcome Aboard. This is their fourth album – and first under their new name, following Tearing Up the Rails (2016) and Catch the Westbound (2019).
A distinctive guitarist who’s toured the Great White North with several bands, Haneman fronts the group and shares vocals with the melismatic Megan Laurence. They’re backed by longtime bassist Martin Newman and newcomer Valera Negovora on percussion in a set that was engineered and mastered by Dean Watson at Buckingham Palace Audio in Buckingham, Que., and Jason Jaknunas at Metropolitan Studios in Ottawa.
An all-original set of soulful blues and blues-rock with charts from the full band and lyrics from Haneman, Painting Stars features fat, sweet runs on six-string and tight arrangements throughout, beginning with “Getaway,” a love song that opens quietly with Lucas on guitar and mic and slowly picks up intensity before exploding atop a funky rhythm pattern. The feel continues in “Not Today” with Megan taking center stage. It serves up advice about the need to keep persevering no matter what troubles you face.
The rocker “Cabin Fever” finds Haneman addressing the feelings that all of us endured at the height of the coronavirus epidemic before the mood slows and Laurence delivers a heaping helping of sensual positivity and optimism with “Being Strong.” The action shifts gears again with the romantic “Snapshot.” The band swings from the hip as Lucas takes command on guitar while describing a photographic memory aided by Megan, who doubles vocals on the chorus and adds sweet backup throughout.
A driving rocker, “Hot Minute” expresses eternal affection after instantaneous attraction, a feeling that continues in the propulsive “When I’m with Her” before things quiet again for “These Walls,” a seven-minute please that features Laurence and reinforces the message once again. “Rising from the Dead” powers forcefully out of the gate and settles into a steady, driving beat before delivering encouragement to get back on your feet and move past any obstacles in your way before the cover tune, “Painting Stars,” adds more fuel to the fire to close.
Looking for a lift? The LH Express delivers one with this one. Pleasantly original throughout.
