The Durham family are a musical dynamo that just keeps rolling along like a freight train in the night. Steady, strong and full of steam, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis Durham are the engine, fuel and spirit of this rollicking musical trio. With two retro, rocking rhythm and blues albums under their collective belts already, The Third, is a fine-sounding addition to their catalogue.

The joyful and bright sounds that their eponymous first and Smoking In Heaven delivered are here in spades, but with a decided raise in the stakes. With three years between releases, Kitty, Daisy and Lewis have not only matured in age but their song writing, studio set up and production ideas have decidedly shifted.

Those first two records had the trio set up in front of microphones and the rolling tape just captured the magic. ‘Whenever You See Me’, the opening number, shows the development of their sound. With a horn section beefing up the composition, The Lewis Sisters wail away to a rowdy soundtrack that makes you think the threesome have shifted gears entirely from their earlier recordings.

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This is all put to rest as the album progresses with the swaying beauty of ‘Baby Bye Bye’. With Lewis Durham on some sweet high toned guitar and the lovely murderous backing vocals of his sisters makes this an excellent choice for the first single from this record. It’s a nice little end of the love affair tune that showcases Lewis Durham’s vocals like never before. Check out the macabre little video on line for this track, you won’t be disappointed, and it may be in the running for video of the year at this early juncture of 2015.

Mick Jones, from The Clash, spent a month rehearsing with the band and that time together made him part of the clan. His influences and understanding of what Kitty, Daisy and Lewis were on about made it a simple and fun filled process. The Durham’s have also moved from their home studio to a restaurant in London they have converted into a 16 track analogue studio which gives them a wide range of technology to play with.

Funky tracks like ‘Feeling Of Wonder’ and ‘No Action’ make total use of that new studio set up. Kitty and Daisy’s vocals are recorded so well it sounds as if they are in the room with you the listener. Supposedly a handmade microphone By Lewis Durham has something to do with the recording quality. The singing and playing here is bound to give this group a much larger international profile.

Lewis Durham has always been the star on guitar but he really shines when he steps forward to belt some out. ‘Good Looking Woman’ is a blues in the style of Big Joe Turner and ‘It Ain’t Your Business’ heads into Slim Harpo territory. They may wear their musical influences on their sleeves but they pull it off with aplomb.

With three composers and multi-instrumentalist in this trinity one can imagine that besides these 12 excellent tracks there are probably a dozen more lying around on tape. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long to get our hands on those numbers and that by the end of the year we shall see them playing at a venue here in Australia.

Third by Kitty, Daisy and Lewis is out now on Sunday Best and Shock Records in Australia and check it out on vinyl, CD, digitally or on a special 78RPM package with a book.

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