One nice thing about writing reviews for a website or magazine is that from time to time you are contacted either directly by a band or by their management and asked if you would like to review their latest offering. This can sometimes mean a diplomatic decline but can also lead, as in the case of GeminiiDRAGON, to a wonderful new discovery. My first port of call on receiving this request was to click on the link to the first video from the latest release, ‘You Ain’t Up To No Good’ which not only had me hooked from the opening guitar riff but when GeminiiDRAGON a.k.a. Jessica Harper’s (no, GeminiiDRAGON isn’t a band name) voice slapped me in the face it blew me away. How in this age of social media and free access to music had this rough diamond avoided my radar? Maybe things are different for her stateside but I was soon downloading the full album and I was in no way disappointed with what I heard.
Unsurprisingly, 3 is the third album from this Louisiana based vocalist and builds on the groundwork laid down on her 2022 debut, Fighting Fire With Fire which displayed a more straight ahead blues rock vibe as demonstrated on the single ‘Knocked Down’, this was followed up by Equinox the following year, when the GeminiiDRAGON formula really began to gel. With a consistent line-up carried over from the previous release the vocalist is once again joined by songwriter/producer and CEO of Nepotism Records, Christian Simeon on guitar, Dougie V on Bass and Eric “Sass” Sasser on drums as well as Malaysia Lewis on Vibraphone. Despite her obvious influences (Koko Taylor, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Mavis Staples, Jimi Hendrix) there are no re-hashed golden oldies in site with the new album featuring eleven totally original songs penned by Harper and Simeon. ‘I Wanna Know’ opens proceedings with an intoxicating guitar hook and GD channelling her inner Tina Turner on a track which draws you in as it is driven forward by Sasser’s rolling beats before ‘Desert Heart’ and second video ‘Clowns’ raise the emotionometer to the max. There are classic rock riffs a plenty as ‘Wasted Time’ gives way to ‘Great Day’ before reaching a literal climax with the aforementioned ‘You Ain’t Up To No Good’ featuring Chad Rupp from The Sugar Roots and TJ Wong to bolster the already substantial blues guitar onslaught. This is definitely a howling highpoint of the album. ‘Cherokee’ crashes a punk attitude into power rock soloing ahead of ‘A Fool For You’ and ‘Caught Up In Your Love’ proving that Christian Simeon is the fuel to Harper’s internal fire. In total contrast (and this is an album full of those) ‘Last Train To Thibodaux’ takes us to her home town via a psychedelic carpet ride of jangling guitars and acoustic strumming. ‘Ballad OF Willie Mae & George (The Reprise)’ returns the listener to the Equinox album to pay homage to one of that releases key moments and with its story of betrayal, scuzzy guitar and even scuzzier vocal there is no better way to bring this album to a close. 3 doesn’t hide the fact that it is dripping with influences and inspiration but they all come together to make a truly modern melting pot of an experience.
At her most subtle GeminiiDRAGON shows the storytelling quality of Joan Armatrading at her bluesiest, but deep down within she harbours a wild banshee screaming to escape, and escape it does. Like many ground-breaking artists who have come before her, Lenny Kravitz, Prince, Skunk Anansie and their ilk GeminiiDRAGON deserves more attention for the bravery she shows to stretch the conventional boundaries and for blurring the acceptable limits of the multiple genres that she inhabits. Excuse me, I’m off to check out the back catalogue.
- Reviewed By Peter Brockwell.
- 3 is released via Nepotism Recordings/Lightning In A Bottle Records on 1st February 2024.
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Track List:
1. I Wanna Know
2. Desert Heart
3. Clowns
4. Wasted Time
5. Great Day
6. You Ain’t Up To No Good featuring Chad Rupp and TJ Wong
7. Cherokee
8. A Fool For You
9. Caught Up In Your Love
10. Last Train To Thibodaux
11. Ballad OF Willie Mae & George (The Reprise)
