Heigh Chief. - Midnight Oil
RD. September 17, 2021.
First time on vinyl!
Limited to 500 copies!
All yellow vinyl!
All handnumbered!
"WHERE are they from?" is probably one of the first questions you will ask yourself 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? It all started when Bjørn Blix, Marcus Løvdal, Lasse Nordby and Jonatan Eikum had the crackpot idea to join in on a blues competition. Since Marcus put most of the work into the project, they just called themselves “The Marcus Løvdal Band ” and - walked away with the first prize. Suddenly they found themselves on a tour through Norway and immediately afterwards were invited to Memphis, Tennessee, to take part in the finals of the competition. After their first album they completed their line-up with Lars Christian Narum on hammond and piano. During the recording of the 2nd album they felt that the old name didn't really fit anymore as the sound had become more of a joint product and so they called themself Heigh Chief.. “It's funny,” says Björn Blix, “Heigh Chief. has a sound that one could compare to many legendary bands but we don’t set out to make that happen. Songs that are written and presented to the band can be a quantum leap from the HC sound but after it gets run through the HC machinery it is a HC song!”
The influences are of course relatively obvious. “Some of us grew up listening to this music and some of us found it later on. Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Little Feat, Ry Cooder, Little Village, Ray Charles, The Band, Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Paul Simon and Terry Reid to mention a few. We’re also inspired by more recent artists like Foy Vance, Blake Mills, The Wood Brothers, Colter Wall, and Tedeschi Trucks Band ”says Blix. At the end of 2020, Germanys biggest radio station “Deutschlandfunk” produced a special as part of their series “Zuhause aufgenommen” (“recorded at home”) after covering them since their earliest days. After several tours through Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA the band is looking forward to playing live again soon.
With “Midnight Oil” the band's fourth album is now released worldwide via Juke Joint 500 and exudes a maturity one rarely finds. Everything here is really from one piece: songwriting, arrangements and production are combined with a virtuoso, but never complacent joy of playing, which makes this album something very special.
Side A.
1. Midnight Oil
2. Kick It
3. Half A Heart
4. Tailor Made
5. Spare A Dime
Side B.
1. Caroline
2. Change Of Heart
3. You Got Something
4. Coming Home
5. Crazy Love