Album Review

Hey Negrita – Burn The Whole Place Down

• 23rd Oct 2009

Performing a song acoustically is traditionally the acid test of the strength of the writing; a good song in most any genre should hold up when stripped down to its essential elements. It’s testament to Hey Negrita’s abilities as songwriters that each track on this album holds its own rather well next to its electric counterpart.

‘Pub band’ is too often a derogatory term, for Hey Negrita I’d like to apply it as a compliment; they play a straight-up brand of blues-tainted country that lends itself to casual, beverage-in-hand listening, with instantly singalong choruses and endearingly simple lyrics telling of youthful folly, regrets and heartbreak. The title track that kicks things off – penned especially for the album – is up-tempo and happy-go-lucky, and from there onwards, though lyrically and melodically shifting to darker territories, Burn the Whole Place Down is a consistently enjoyable listen. Versions of tracks like ‘One Mississippi’ and ‘Here I come’ retain the big, rousing choruses of the originals, with the added intimacy of the basic acoustic setup.