Heigh Chief. - Midnight Oil (2020) [Hi-Res]

"Where do they come from?" is probably one of the first questions after the first bars of "Midnight Oil" have faded away. How can something that seems so rooted in the American South come from Norway? And from such young guys at that?

It all started when Bjorn Blix, Marcus Lovdal, Lasse Nordby and Jonatan Eikum entered a blues competition on a whim. As Marcus put most of the work into the project, they simply called themselves "The Marcus Lovdal Band" and quickly won first prize. Suddenly they found themselves on a tour of Norway and immediately afterwards they were invited to Memphis, Tennessee, to take part in the finals of the competition.

After the 1st album, the line-up was completed with Lars Christian Narum on Hammond and piano. During the recording of the 2nd album, they realized that the old name didn't really fit anymore, as the sound had become more and more a joint product, and changed their name to Heigh Chief. "It's funny," says Björn Blix, "we all like very different things, but when we've switched on the amplifiers and tuned the guitars, we always end up with Heigh Chief."

The influences are, of course, relatively obvious. "We grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, Little Village, and Terry Reid, to name a few bands and artists, but we also like stuff like Foy Vance, Blake Mills, The Wood Brothers, Colter Wall, and the Tedeschi Trucks Band," says Blix. At the end of last year, Deutschlandfunk also became aware of the band and produced a special as part of their series "Zu Hause aufgenommen".

After several tours through Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA, the band is very much looking forward to playing live again soon. With "Midnight Oil", the band's 4th album is now being released worldwide via Juke Joint 500 and radiates a maturity that is rarely found. Everything here really is of a piece: songwriting, arrangements and production are combined with a virtuoso but never complacent joy of playing that makes this album something very special.

Reviews
"It pays off that there are two excellent singers, two guitarists and an organist on the Southern front, so that palatable slide guitar solos in tremolo sound rub against the hiss of the Hammond with relish." (Stereo, December 2021)

Tracklist:
1.01 - Heigh Chief. - Midnight Oil (3:24)
1.02 - Heigh Chief. - Kick It (3:44)
1.03 - Heigh Chief. - Half a Heart (3:20)
1.04 - Heigh Chief. - Tailor Made (3:15)
1.05 - Heigh Chief. - Spare a Dime (3:43)
1.06 - Heigh Chief. - Caroline (4:16)
1.07 - Heigh Chief. - Change of Heart (4:20)
1.08 - Heigh Chief. - You Got Something (3:49)
1.09 - Heigh Chief. - Coming Home (2:46)
1.10 - Heigh Chief. - Crazy Love (4:00)