Boy Leadfoot: “Turn-Buckle” will carve out a steady cult following

Max Gordon with Boy Leadfoot is a three-piece blues-based, alternative soul and rock project, from Vancouver Island, Canada. Their latest release, the EP “Turn-Buckle” is a breath of fresh air compared to the pop dribble permeating the American music scene right now. This is the type of musical project that will carve out a steady cult following and attract a good deal of critical acclaim. All three members are very professional and innovative musicians, and musicians of any sort will gobble up all kinds of licks, tones and spices from this release. The EP resides in the nebulous nexus of blues and alternative rock, leaving us to wonder what the hip blues sound like and how to get down to the blues hop.

Boy Leadfoot make a wonderful lazy mix of blues and roots rock, where keyboards flow with groovy drums, killer bass hooks and strummed guitars; the vocals are on the laid back but fully dynamic side, and are always ready to reach up and out when needing to switch towards a more urgent register.

Smooth, slick and graceful, “Swallow” opens the proceedings and is a fantastic back-to-basics effort. Employing effortless songwriting skills that mix in a cadre of guitar tones and subtle-yet-perceptible organ flourishes, the record finds the band wholeheartedly playing to their strengths and sounding great while doing it.

By the time you hit play on the second track, “Sun-Shine” which is as fresh and smooth as a peach, you realize there is simply nothing else that sounds quite like this right now; it just clicks into a unique sound. It swings, it rocks, it grooves, it flows – it simply works.

Whether cruising on a road trip, kicking back with family & friends on a lazy summer night or out on a date and trying to set the mood, this track feels good and enhances the positive vibe. Bare to the bone, “Take Easy” is raw, gritty, honest, and beautifully simple. This track exemplifies everything wonderful in Boy Leadfoot’s music. Smooth, supple, and the very sonic incarnation of another intriguing summer’s day jam, with its hypnotic lead guitar motif and intoxicating beat.

“Melting” is practically a case study in Boy Leadfoot’s distinct flavor of effortless cool groove, as the track unfolds at its own pace. This Vancouver Island alternative blues project doesn’t lose time in getting worked up by a sweet groove and some exhilarating melodies.

“Made To Last” presents Boy Leadfoot at their finest, laying down a smooth lyrical flow over beautifully acoustic guitar riffs and rhythms. For all of their laidback, blissful sound and soulful vocal delivery, don’t for a minute make the mistake of consigning them to the middle of the road, as musically they are too profound for that.

This is a return to the beginning, where musicianship and creativity was once off the wall in every project. Deconstructing crossover blues preconceptions, Canada’s Boy Leadfoot are thematically on fire, daring to integrate the blues into alternative flavors, while subtly tearing up the joint, jamming and jiving in the coolest possible manner.

These songs don’t even need over the top lyrics or any radical statements more than the message in the melodies – simmer down or move to the powerful groove. The songs on “Turn-Buckle” are perfectly crafted, every single one! Presenting the evolution of the blues, Boy Leadfoot is just too damned different not to have in your collection.

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