Sovereign Town

Australian-born Geoff Achison earned a reputation in the mid-'90s as one of the more acclaimed young blues guitarists, including winning the Albert King Award for most promising guitarist in 1995, leading to an endorsement deal with Gibson Guitars. Born in Victoria, Achison made his way to Melbourne and learned the blues from local artists. His recorded debut arrived with Big Machine in 1994 and the record garnered strong notices from critics and fans alike. Following his Albert King Award win at the 12th Annual International Blues Talent Competition in Memphis, Achison released the solo acoustic album Mystery Train, earning him more critical accolades. Gettin' Evil (1999) featured his U.S. touring band the Soul Diggers backing him and Live at St. Andrews and Souldiggin' in the U.K. were issued over the next two years (the latter being a live studio recording). Keeping a relentless touring schedule, Achison spent a portion of 2000 on the road in the States with Hot Tuna and has taught at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Guitar Ranch.

—Tom Demalon

With the list of contenders vying for the 'Australian Blues album of the Year' seemingly growing each week, Melbourne's Geoff Achison has thrown his hat in the ring, with the release of “Sovereign Town”, a collection of 12 songs, which are inspired by the gold rush in Victoria, around the 1850's. The album was recorded in Ballarat, a town steeped in gold mining history and part of the “Golden Triangle”, close to where Achison grew up. He recalls the area and remembers exploring the old diggings, when he was a kid, so this is almost a revisit to those childhood memories and his journey through life and as a musician.

For this album, Geoff has eased off the tempo and rocking blues we are somewhat used to with his Souldiggers band, delivering an album of mostly chilled out, easy listening solo work which would suit any lazy afternoon, with sun blazing down and a nice bottle of red breathing in the sea breeze – well that how I've been listening to it and it works a treat! For me personally, it's been a difficult album to review because a lot of the attraction to this is in the lyrics, and to delve deeper into that I would need to break each track down in real detail – so I'll leave that for you to explore & enjoy.

So, onto the music, and we start with a simple percussion & double bass intro which leads us into the opening track 'Skeleton Kiss', with Geoff's gravel-like vocals and mellow acoustic guitar playing setting the tone for the album. 'Miniature Men' & 'Walk Away' continue the relaxed rhythm, as we ebb & flow along with Geoff. The title track 'Sovereign Town' picks the pace up ever so slightly with some beautiful finger picking acoustic work. 'Wandsworth Bridge' is a track full of lyrics of lost loves and heartbreak, with a wonderful gentle electric solo in the middle. 'Misha Bella' takes us on an almost jazz-blues trip, with some incredible guitar work once more and jazz club drum beat and Hammond Organ-like keys. The album takes a completely different turn with the upbeat 'Small Town Crime', which caught me by surprise – pleasantly I may add – as I was “in the zone” so to speak, but I was soon back there with the outstanding 'World of Blue', one of my favourites on the album, with its haunting slide guitar apparent throughout the track. 'Sleepwalking' is another one of my favourites and it's so great to hear Geoff being able to display his outstanding acoustic work throughout, without the temptation to “rock it up” at any time on the album. The beautiful instrumental track 'Hand of Faith' displays some almost Spanish-like acoustic guitar playing (I even opened a bottle of Rioja at this point), before 'Rescue the Past' pulls us back with a slightly quicker tempo with nice chorus and slide solo work. The album closes with 'Coolbardie Sunrise', another instrumental that showcases Geoff's amazing finger picking talents, which is played on his “Regal” resonator.

—Sean Bennett