Beth Hart, War In My Mind - album review
There are few musicians out there who will have experienced more than Beth Hart both before and during her 25-year career.
The 47-year-old Californian blues rocker has been playing at her piano since the tender age of four.
She says herself that "things get good then go to crap, get good then go to crap", so it's no surprise that her playing style is not of the classically trained protégée she began out aspiring to be. Instead, as anyone who will have come across Hart before knows, there's more grit here than at the bottom of the sandiest beach.
More coverage:
What is different this time is her honesty has been cranked up even more. She lays bare about "vulnerability and openness about my life, about love, addiction, my bipolar, my dad, my sister".
It means that between the softer piano ballads and the harsh, true-to-life bar tunes you believe what comes out of Hart's mouth more than many others.
There are some lovely ballads here. The title track builds to a crescendo finale with a more-than-hopeful chorus given its subject matter. It's got a Broadway musical feel to it - that track where our protagonist realises what they have to do to complete their quest.
Then there's Without Words In The Way. Hushed and softer, Hart's vocals are more closed and guarded than on the previous number. It's sorrowful as lazy guitars dance along carefully with her pained notes.
There's the more uplifting moments too. The rockabilly rhythms to Spanish Lullabies swagger and stagger with all the bravado of the most accomplished Western gunslinger. You sense Hart is having more fun here as she opens her lungs and roars over the top one moment, and almost tickles the eardrums the next with whispered tones.
Rob Cavallo (Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Dave Matthews Band, Goo Goo Dolls), who passed up the opportunity to mix her Leave The Light On album in 2003, is in charge of this 13th offering (if you count the three with Joe Bonamassa). And its almost ethereal movie soundtrack quality is a delight from start to finish.
Rating: 8/10
Beth Hart will play at Birmingham's Symphony Hall on February 9, 2020
