Jon Airdrie’s previous album with The Shelleys was a download set designed, I presume, to raise funds for the next project. If so he spent the money wisely because Something’s Cooking is an intriguing album that deserves to be widely heard.
Jon and the band are from south Wales and he has the Welshman’s facility with the English language. The spirit of Dylan Thomas suffuses the record: ‘The Play At Laugharne’ and ‘That Goodnight’ being the obvious pointers. Jon has a very individual voice that can be high and sweet or rough and gravely. In fact, at the opening lines of ‘Medication’ Leonard Cohen springs immediately to mind.
The Shelleys have developed a sound reminiscent of the best 60s/70s acoustic/electric bands with Gerry The Flute contributing all manner of melodic sounds and Tim Brooke’s drums having the feel of counterpointing the songs rather than playing a conventional role. Something’s Cooking is a quirky album – not in a silly way, just very individual – and the more I hear it, the more I like it.
Dai Jeffries
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