It is sometimes very easy to over complicate music and get into the depth of all the new sounds with genres and sub genres.
Eleven XI from the beautiful seaside town of Poole in Dorset have just released their debut album “Look at The Time”, an album which finds; funnily enough, 11 equally great tunes that are uncomplicatedly very easy on the ear. A quite simple and straightforward set of easy to listen to Pop songs with infusions of a multitude of influences such as Rock and Reggae. The album was produced and mastered with the help of world class music engineer Peter Maher who has worked with huge names like U2, The Killers and the Rolling Stones. Writer and front man Paul Read wears his heart on his sleeve and the album oozes influences from a wide spectrum of all his favourite artists including The Police, U2 and Oasis.
The songs combine a diverse mix of electronic keyboards with a wide range of guitar effects, as well as some great harmonisation of male and female vocals. Opening with the laid back “Heaven and Back” which starts with a nice long intro, cleverly combining keyboards and guitars to great effect. It is a nice distraction listening to this album in the depths of Winter; with the storms creating havoc outside, the songs all seem to have a distinctly Summery feel to them.
Songs such as “Deep Blue Water” and “Brothers and Sisters” have an injection of Reggae, taking you off to a place which has warm weather along with clear blue skies. The two real stand out songs that have also become live favourites are “Halcyon Days” and “Kaleidoscopic Dreams”. Both show some very creative experimentation with guitar effects combining two guitars to give a really epic sound.
This band have created an album here that though very radio friendly, it also pushes some musical boundaries. Combining a whole lot of old and new ideas together to bring something quite special that will easily stand the test of time. Eleven XI have only been around since 2012 and since then the six band members have all developed a real special chemistry amongst their ranks and this really comes across within their music. These songs on this album also translate really well on to the live stage and I’m sure we will be seeing Eleven XI playing many of the Summer festivals this year as their vibe would really suit playing in the open air. The album is available now from iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and Google Play
Line Up
Paul Read – Guitar/Vocals
Carly Green – Vocals
Wally Wallis- Bass
Chris Skerman – Guitar
Mo Knott – Drums
Ben Cornish – Keyboards
Track Listing
Heaven and Back
Ride On
Deep Blue Water
Broken Wings
Number One
Brothers and Sisters
Moonshine
Fast Train
Back To Earth
Halcyon Days
Kaledoscopic Dreams
Fast Train
Web Links
http://www.eleven-xi.com
https://soundcloud.com/paul-read
https://www.facebook.com/pages/ElevenXI/102563509899085
Words By Dave Chinery (Chinners)
Videos By Wally Wallis.
