BEAUTIFUL WILD
Bonjah
(INERTIA)
The four-piece, originally from New Zealand, have been around for a little bit and are now releasing their third album. Beautiful Wild shows experience and a well-honed sound, drifting between clean and dirty. Bonjah do both well, but the main feature of the record is the tonne of soul they’ve injected into the music. The vocals are a focus point throughout; grizzled and sultry. If I’m to be totally honest, I probably would have guessed that the singer was female until I did some research as there’s hints of Dallas Frasca-like tones.
The album kicks off in awesome style with Bullet In The Barrel & Honey a couple of my favourites off the LP. The band gets into a deep groove on both tracks, with the guitar and vocals doing a lot of rhythm work. It’s a pretty consistent listen from start to finish, with no tracks letting the album down.
According to the band the album was recorded only in 10 days, which is surprising because nothing seems rushed. The band all know their parts and the production is rightfully minimal.
MATT RIPPON