It hasn’t been that long since Georgia Fair featured on the racks of our favourite record stores with their debut LP All Through Winter. Trapped Flame, their second album since their formation in 2006, sees the Sydney-formed and Melbourne-based band mature their blend of charming folk, country, rock and blues with the help of producer Ted Hutt (Gaslight Anthem, Old Crow Medicine Show, Dropkick Murphys).
Trapped Flame opens with Gloria, a blues-infused number where vocalist Jordan Wilson’s husky vocals resemble an austere ’60s ballad, setting the tone of the album. Second track Love Me Free livens up the album with its infectious rhythm and rocking rifts, while Coming Back creates a morose atmosphere with its tender melodies and raw vocals. Are We Not Alive may be the closest track that resembles the band’s previous works, with its contagious lyrics and sweet, upbeat tone.
Fifth track Fiery Night returns to the blues-imbued sound Trapped Flame appears to adopt, while The River creates a metamorphic interpretation of water with its dipping crescendos and decrescendos that mimic the movement of water. Old Friends sees vocalist Jordan Wilson return to his husky ballads over a minimalistic, but poignant, piano composition; following tracks Plain Girls and Trapped Flame see the duo adopt their folk roots with fluttering guitar and poetic lyrics while Broken Wings drives the album forward to its conclusive tracks: Someday Soon and Wrong Side. Overall, Trapped Flame is a complex album that sees Georgia Fair mature into a fine young band that refine what they know and do it well.
BY AVRILLE BYLOK-COLLARD
Best Track: The River
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: MUMFORD & SONS, BOY & BEAR, BAND OF HORSES, THE PANICS
In A Word: Mature
