Courtesy Tier – Everyone’s OK
Everyone’s OK – an aphorism possibly construed as the very antithesis of the blues, but as the sound of Courtesy Tier emanates through kith and kin, you understand there is nothing more universal than overcoming the struggle.
In the wake of the blues revival giants of the last decade such as The Black Keys, fertile soil has been tilled for young bands with a penchant for the old standards but with modern sensibilities. Hailing from all over but based in Brooklyn, the trio blends their trans-American and trans-Atlantic roots in crafting a sound that is at once familiar to rock heads but also has an unmistakably new aftertaste that leaves the listener craving for more.
Courtesy Tier’s debut is a sonic singularity, engulfing the technicality bred of their music school background and the rawness of their blues affectations. As you journey through the album, you’ll feel the cresting of individual tracks while being enveloped by the whole. The lead single, ‘Little Rock’, shines bright even among the record’s luminescence, fuelled by a life-changing event to the band, its raw emotionally resonates beautifully between sombre lyricism and high-octane instrumentation. ‘Childish Blues’, an ode to humility and grace in the face of artistic creation, captivates with a stratospheric delivery of progressive blues. The album caps off with ‘Home’, a downtempo shift that not only invokes a bone-deep nostalgia, but shows the artistic breadth of the band and leaves the listener guessing what’s next from this new blues power trio.
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