Tag: Dai Jeffries

I have two copies of If…. Lisa and Sue sent a note with the second copy explaining that there are “upgrades” but now I’m not sure that I haven’t mixed them up. I’m sure the upgraded version has the current website and an inner that folds the conventional way. The tracks are the same and in the same order so I’m going assume that I’m right.

All of this is by-the-by. Lisa Chapin and Sue Wickwar have been working together for a year having met by chance. In that time they have played a century of gigs, got married and recorded their debut album, pretty much on a shoestring, I’m guessing. The first thing that strikes you is the purity of their sound. Here are two strong voices which harmonise so well and complementary guitar sounds with Lisa playing acoustic lead that uncannily matches their voices. For a low-budget, home recording their production is stunning.

Their songs come from personal experience, of course, but have the power to appeal to anyone and that’s remarkable for so new a working partnership. The first two songs, ‘Into Crazy’ and ‘Purple Love’, seem to map the beginnings of their relationship while ‘Sorry’ recounts a failed relationship. Of course, I may be reading too much into the words. The title track is about the pain of living without a family. In fact, love found or lost or even rejected is the theme that runs through the record.

Ray Turley plays lead guitar on ‘Into Crazy’ and harmonica on ‘Bring Me Home’ and Mark Rudd adds violin to the final track, ‘Leave A Light On’ but those are all the credits so I suppose that Lisa and Sue provide the occasional percussion themselves. I can see them getting big soon but I hope they don’t lose the freshness and intensity they have poured into this album.

Dai Jeffries