He’s a charismatic live performer and has the real opportunity to make himself a darling of the Blues circuit.

If you’re familiar with this Swedish band then you’ll be aware of their particular brand of hard stomping, Boogie Rock and you’ll know that front-man for that band Pontus Snibb has got a big, lived-in sounding gob and that he’s no slouch in the guitar department either. As a solo artist, he’s gone down a Rootsy road previously. Here, he leaves his Hard Rock hat at the door and dons his Blues cap convincingly.

     He’s got a firm understanding of the Blues, his lead guitar tone harks back to the 1950s and 1960s as evidenced on ‘More Blues And Blues Sounds’ and ‘Same Same’. He name checks a number of Bluesmen during the disc and they’re as good an indication of the kind of sound his solo work favours; BB King, Eric Clapton and Otis Rush. However, as you might expect from his day job in Bonafide, his Blues relies heavily on the groove, with the rhythm guitar digging deeper and deeper as the songs progress. ‘Lightnin’ Change’ and ‘Walking Blue’ takes us down a more Country Blues route as opposed to some of the other material. The former, unsurprisingly from its name, evoking the Texan flavour of Lightning Hopkins and the latter has a confident early Muddy Waters feel. The late night Blues of ‘Longin’ for You’ shows he can slow it down too and he conveys the emotion of the Bluesman’s homesickness palpably.

Where he succeeds, aside from his authentic take on the Blues, is his ability to hold back and not overplay which can often happen when a Hard Rocker takes this turn at the crossroads from Rock into Blues. He’s a charismatic live performer and has the real opportunity to make himself a darling of the Blues circuit if his band commitments don’t pull him in another direction. It’s rare for a musician to juggle both a band career and solo career that are equally worthy. Pontus Snibb is one of those rare breeds who can do both.

Duncan Jamieson