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Review: 'MOORE, ABI'
'Amoeba & Stone'   

-  Label: 'Honest Records'
-  Genre: 'Folk' -  Release Date: '3rd February 2014'-  Catalogue No: 'HR01'

Our Rating:
'Amoeba & Stone' is the latest album from Lincolnshire based singer songwriter Abi Moore. It is her third album and follows on from 'The Aftermath of 96' (2006) and 'Things We Should've Said' (2009).

Interestingly, when this CD is inserted into my computer, the programme picks up the play list from the 2009 album, and not the tracks that are actually on the CD. However, that is something that really doesn't matter, and it's probably my computer's bloody fault anyway!

The album varies between folk and country music on a lot of tracks, but the fine lyricism stands out, with various metaphors being brought into play throughout. The opening (title) track 'Amoeba and Stone' does just that: it's a folky style tune underpinned with feedback that wouldn't have sounded out of place on The Velvet Underground's third album and it's a song that grips the listener. The lyrics contrast the easy, safe life against the path less travelled, i.e. the more difficult route: -
“The ocean is wide and oh, so deep, but the humans all swim by the shore/ Little old me in an effort to be free went in search of a little bit more...Boys from the land have offered their hand to pull me back in to the shore/ But once you have strayed from the usual way, you just can't go back anymore”.

The centre-piece of the album is the fairly awesome 'Nickajack Cave', which basically relates the tale of Johnny Cash putting his faith in God and turning away from amphetamine addiction. The publicity blurb talks about this as “Johnny Cash's attempted suicide in 1967”, and Johnny's own autobiography refers to this in depth. According to Johnny “I knew what I'd do, I'd go into Nickajack Cave, on the Tennessee River just North of Chattanooga, and let God take me from this earth and put me wherever He puts people like me”.

The song itself is a country song, with some excellent pedal steel by Nick Zala. The lyrics pull no punches, and deal with this gritty subject in relation to how those thoughts and feelings affect all of us: - “Oh, the times we've tried with our backs against the wall/ And we can't even succeed in ending it all/ Some don't believe in fate or higher law/ But Johnny, me and you, we know it for sure/ Cos what is life without faith or some destination, but a certain stumble into devastation?/ If we don't keep our eyes directed to the skies/ We're headed for the ground, Johnny, you and I”.

Overall, this is a really good third album, and Abi should hopefully reap the rewards from this. Real Radio is quoted as saying “She is, without doubt, a true star. The world just doesn't know it yet”. With albums as strong as this, the world should wake up very soon.

Listen to Abi Moore at Bandcamp
  author: Nick Browne

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MOORE, ABI - Amoeba & Stone