Ash Grunwald's Fish Out of Water

11 September 2008 by Richard Wilson

The album starts off strong with 'Can U Find A Way'. Reservations can be checked at the door because what you hear here pretty nearly sums up the entire album. Thumping bass, a simple blues melody on a Dobro cranked through an amp worthy of any blues legend of days gone by. Grunwald's vocals are as focused as ever and it doesn't take long before his searing wail will hook any fan of Grunwald's previous work.

Fish Out of Water is the follow-up to 2006's Give Signs which was Ash Grunwald's first foray into his style of blues-fusion. Here, with the able assistance of Countbounce Grunwald has built on this sound to create something that makes 'Give Signs' decidedly sophomoric in comparison -- though certainly no less admirable, given it did after all lead Grunwald down this path.

Countbounce's backing adds a steady backing to the already strong sound Grunwald has been creating all these years. At times the sampled drums creates a repetitive sound that seems to contradict the fundamental freedoms of blues. At times affirming Grunwald's vocal and guitar strengths, much of it just takes away as much as it puts in. Grunwald is certainly not wrong for thinking his music can be improved with a steady and tough backing, but perhaps electronic sampling in this manner doesn't quite do the sound-scape justice.

Lyrically Grunwald perhaps tries too hard to capture the blues. Chicago and Delta blues phrasing slips its way into the sound all too frequently, as Grunwald tries to affirm his blues musicology cred. Any fan of pre-war blues will find the repeated use of 'devil', 'mojo', 'delta' and like terms a little too kitsch for their liking. For much of Grunwald's audience though this is perhaps the perfect segue from Grunwald's popular surfer-hippie-rocker image into blues-proper. If it takes a few blues catchphrases to accomplish then so be it.

The album isn't all hip hop backed grooves. For two tracks the sound is stripped back to simple acoustics, an area where Grunwald clearly shows formidable talent. The first of these two is 'Give Something Away', a gospel number that takes its melodic cues from the equally Delta blues-inspired 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' by Led Zeppelin. It's in this acoustic mode where Grunwald's vocals are at their best, easily carrying the song through with little . The folky 'Port Campbell' contradicts much of the album in its lyrical content. A blues number that tells the tale of a surfer where the dangerous swell seems to be the least of his concerns -- and decidedly different in mood from Grunwald's festival favourite Dolphin Song. It shows that blues are just as possible without resorting to the trusty blues thesaurus.

Between the two songs, Grunwald has undoubtedly recorded the best acoustic blues numbers of his career, a testament to the producing skills of Countbounce and Grunwald.

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