The 2022 release ‘The Difficult Second’ was the follow-up to the 2019 debut ‘Louder Than Words’. That album was more of a duo project by Suzi James and Jeremy Shotts along with some guest musicians on half of the tracks, but this release is written, composed and produced by Suzi, with a song lyric and much appreciated support from Jeremy. On this release she provides guitars, basses, keyboards, mandolin, oud, e-violin, percussion, and backing vocals and is joined by singer Yael Shotts and drummer Sharon Petrover, who both featured on the first album. Suzi is a busy lady these days, currently hard at work on the third FS album, plus she is working on the next Checking For Echo, the second release by T.A.P. and she also guested on the latest Drifting Sun, so she has a lot going on.
This never sounds like a project but the work of a full band, and by bringing in a great drummer and wonderful singer Suzi has not only kept continuity from the first release, but this has released her to work on the arrangements and get the best from the songs. It is quite unusual for musicians to be able to play guitars, stringed instruments and keyboards, but that appears to be no issue for Suzi who often has a lovely thick bass sound which moves in and around the melody to provide a wonderful foundation. Too often bassists spend all their time at the end of the neck, but Suzi has a deft touch and brings in some high bass notes to provide wonderful accents. This is a solid crossover release, but one never knows where it is going to go as not only can there be some symphonic moments, but we can get some quite striking neo-style guitar while there are also some Eastern influences at play at times.
The result is an album which is fresh, interesting and exciting, and the more it is played the more layers there are to discover. Even though this album is a few years old, I note there is only one other review on PA (written by my good friend Thomas) which is a real shame as here is a release that many progheads will enjoy as it is highly melodic, carefully arranged and produced, and while it can be enjoyed the first time it is played there are some nice depths to keep discovering. 8/10 Kev Rowland
