Thorbjørn
Risager & The Black Tornado
Change My Game
2017 – Ruf Records
By Phillip Smith;
June 25, 2017
It’s been almost three years since I reviewed Thorbjørn
Risager’s award winning studio album, Too Many Roads. I
loved that album. His latest release, Change My Game is just as tight and sophisticated. With Risager front and center on
vocals and guitar, The Black Tornado consists of pianist/organist Emil
Balsgaard, guitarist Peter Skjerning, tenor saxophonist Kasper
Wagner, saxophonist Hans Nybo, trumpet player Peter Kehl,
bassist Søren Bøjgaard, and drummer Martin Seidelin. As this tight-knit band from Copenhagen puts
it, “Change My Game” is not just an album title, but also the guiding ethos
that has driven this band from the start.
Risager’s
vocals on “I Used to Love You” are suave and debonair. They sound great sitting
in the mellow dreamlike atmosphere of reminiscence which the Black Tornado beautifully
conjures up. “Dreamland” is contagious
from the beginning; I love its callback to Eighties soul-rock. Skjerning delivers up some killer
guitar riffs which play very nicely with the big full keyboard sounds from Balsgaard.
Like a moth to the flame, I’m quite drawn to the swampy
blues of “Holler ‘N’ Moan”. Saturated
with nice and greasy slide guitar, and sung with conviction, this track feels
so good to listen to. There’s a sweet
heaviness to the way Risager sings “Lay My Burdon Down”. He magnificently paints this one in a gloomy melancholy
light. Risager closes with a masterpiece
called “City of Love”. In a musical sleight
of hand, he inventively shapes this one from a Texas blues boogie into a mind-blowing,
psychedelic treat complete with horns and swirling keys.
Thorbjørn
Risager & The Black Tornado have
scored big again, continuing their tradition of excellence in music with Change My Game. Like a big, juicy steak, this is music one can
delightfully sink their teeth into.
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