Another Mile, Another Minute, is Geoff Achison’s latest album release and is delighting fans and punters alike.
This latest album had been brewing in the pipeline for a long time as most of the songs were written at different periods for different reasons, and some for no real reason at all. You see Achison writes in ‘bursts of creativity’, and the joy of this is how he likes to express his creativity with his constant playing and touring.
Says Achison, “Songwriting is a solitary process and enormously satisfying when an embryonic idea evolves into a fully fledged song. With an ensemble project like this, the finished arrangement is often a conglomerate of contributions by all members of the group. From that point of view it is similar in process to how the band performs live. There is a scaffold or framework to guide us, but within that we are free to be creative, and that very same piece is hopefully uniquely different each time it is performed. However, when making a studio recording, we are acutely aware that these will be the definitive versions of the songs we’re bringing to life. So of course we want listeners to be hooked on that first time listen, therefore we try like blazes to get it just right.”
With his music style foundation firmly planted in the blues, he still finds that little twist which takes the listener somewhere unexpected when composing a song. For this reason the songs recorded with Chris Wilson were more like a ‘gut bucket blues shuffle’ than a 12 bar blues.
He explains, “One of our songs has a little section that sounds more like Mozart than Muddy Waters and I know we’ll be criticized by some in the purist camp for not sticking with the blues, but personally I would find it a chore to force myself to write something that stays within those imaginary ‘blues’ boundaries. Otherwise what’s the point?”
Another mile another minute still embraces Achison’s montage of eclectic blues and funk licks he’s so known for but with this album there is an emphasis on philosophy and spiritualism in songs like High Wire and Working my way home which plays out in chilled jive and reggae overtones.
You’ll definitely feel and hear the slight change of style and tempo in this album but will be pleased to still find his positive up tempo vibe is more exciting and refreshing as always.
For more info on Geoff Achison and the Souldiggers,
Visit: info@souldigger.com.au
Terri Lee Fatouros
Music Journalist
