Duke Garwood - Heavy Love (2015)

Having released his first album Holy Week in 2005, followed by three further studio albums and a 2013 collaboration with Mark Lannegan (Black Pudding) Duke Garwood should be a name that more people are aware of. He admits “When I was young and pretty, I could’ve become a star…Luckily, I didn’t have any inkling to. I didn’t know what I was doing; I wanted to play music the way I wanted it to be played. That probably saved my life”. Whilst that relative haze of obscurity may well be one that he now self-endorses in hindsight that is all set to change.

He recently signed to Heavenly Records for the release of his new album Heavy Love on 9th February. If the title track and lead single is anything to judge his latest offering then you can count me in for more. We’ve chosen Heavy Blues as our Song of the Day, it’s a haunting blues track on which Garwood’s guitar playing takes centre stage with his smokey voice accented by Savages singer Jehnny Beth. As for the video, well Garwood and rock photographer Steve Gullick nailed it. A soulful late night cruise through the neon underbelly.

Truer to his muse than ever before, Heavy Love (recorded in Josh Homme’s Pink Duck studio in Los Angeles with Alain Johannes (QOTSA) and Mark Lanegan at the helm) brilliantly explores this magical artist’s auteurist,cinematic vision – it’s dark, mystical and erotic sound returns Garwood’s music to the elements, to his mad blues, the unhurried grooves and desert slithers,and his spectral, past-midnight burr.

Capturing a musician at his peak, and one who has embarked upon the kind of character-building, detour-strewn route known only by the greatest artists and vagabonds. Garwood has formed deep connections with great musicians – from similarly quixotic souls Mark Lanegan (who Garwood collaborated with on the 2013 album, Black Pudding), Seasick Steve and Josh T. Pearson – to distant legends Tinariwen and The Master Musicians Of Jajouka.

TRACKLIST
01. Sometimes
02. Heavy Love
03. Burning Seas
04. Disco Lights
05. Sweet Wine
06. Snake Man
07. Suppertime in Hell
08. Honey in the Ear
09. Roses
10. Hawaiian Death Song