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Swamp Dixie - Album Review: Beautiful Forever

17 Mar 2016 // A review by Andrew Smit

The music on this album sounds very “real” with its unrefined home-style recording, which although is a little raw, it does sound very genuine. Swamp Dixie are a duo based on the Kapiti Coast with Tracy Bateman and Steven Hall on vocals and guitars, and you can tell that the music is a craft of their making.

The album starts with Let's Get It On which has some nice and clean guitar instrumentation that supports the expressive vocal work from Tracey and Steven very nicely. While there is a variety of music styles throughout the album, the songs are fairly laid back and delivered with an authentic folk style. There is a cool reggae groove in Beautiful Forever and Shine has a nice funky feel with a very retro Casio tone sounding keyboard adding to the funky sound.

The fluid vocal harmonies are prevalent on most of the tunes with Dance The Night Away and Running with Horses a great example of this. Tracy and Steven’s voices are quite contrasting with Steven’s soft and earthy tone a great backing for Tracy’s high register and more dominant tone. The melodious singing is heartfelt and pure, there is no over the top reverb or effects, just the real sound of their tender voices. The variety of style and sound continues with some interesting steel guitar work on Bright As The Sun 1 and 2, and some great blues on Ain't Got No Time For Those Blues showing their willingness to mix it up!

In summary Beautiful Forever showcases Swamp Dixie as a genuine duo where you’re confident that they would sound live just as they do on the album.

 

About Swamp Dixie

SWAMP DIXIE are a alt/blues/country duo based on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand. Steve Hall (guitar/vocals); Tracy Bateman (guitar/vocals).

SWAMP DIXIE provide a great acoustic/band night of entertainment. They have a diverse repertoire ranging from early rhythm and blues/alt country/rock/ballads performing original material from their albums and covers.


Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Swamp Dixie

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