The Marshals – Le Ptit Cham Session
9 songs time – 29:20
The Marshals are a French trio with a make-up of a singer-guitarist, harmonica player and a drummer. Their sound is mainly pretty raucous, owing more to The Black Keys or The Whites than to the blues. Really the only element that is bluesy is the extraordinary and fluent harmonica playing from Laurent Siguret. Guitarist Julien Robalo’s main thrust is heavy strumming on his electric that is under-pinned by Thomas Duchezeau’s forceful drumming. Julien’s voice is robust throughout. All the songs save one were composed by Julien Robalo.
On songs like “Rolling” and “Oh My”, there is such a cacophony of sound that the lyrics are hard to decipher. Tony Joe White’s “Elements and Things” retains some of his swampy feel while allowing the words to come through the thunderous beat. “Steal The Silence” with only guitar as accompaniment also lets the words come through clearly. There is a swampy vibe to “Howl” that is reinforced by alligator references.
“New Dawn” is a hardy offering and the only tune to include backing vocals. Acoustic guitar and harmonica are the only instrumentation to be found on the pensive “See The Lightning”. Actually it is the only song that qualifies as a blues. Laurent tones down his harmonica to fit the solemn tone of the song.
A classic case of less is more as the three instruments more than fill in the sounds, at times almost reaching sensory overload in a good way. Not a guitar solo to be found, but the incessant strumming and wandering harp machinations make that a moot point. There are lighter moments to even things out at times. Whatever you need to call this music, there is certainly no lack of energy or thought put into it. This record will surely blow the dust out of your speakers. Check it out!
