Cactus Flower - Cactus Flower’s Magic Hour

  by Keith How

published: 9 / 11 / 2015

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There is nothing prickly about 'Cactus Flower's Magic Hour'. In fact I rather wish there was. It kicks off with 'China Blue', a rather mid-tempo country blues, and sadly this is about as good as it gets. The guitar clinks and clonks ineffectively, the bass just does a country bass thing and that is it. 'Darkest Hour' follows, and on first listen appears to be the same song which is rather disappointing to say the least. Jessica Lewis is Cactus Flower and comes with a growing reputation as a singer-songwriter of note. While there is nothing wrong with this album, the whole package just seems to lack any identity. Jessica has a pleasant voice, but the instrumental backing feels thin and lacking in any real depth. 'Magic Hour' doesn’t know whether it is a lightweight country album, a folk album or an attempt at country psychedelia. On 'Jojo', the fourth track, that same bass line rolls in with some jangly honky tonk piano to add some interest (it fails) and that same bar room feel remains with a piano instrumental that seems like an afterthought. The second half of the album gets underway with 'Redbird', which is a mediocre attempt to be slightly leftfield but is average at best. 'Cola' goes back to the jangly piano and vocal and is pretty uninspiring. 'Magic Hour' clocks in at just over thirty minutes, so is actually 'Magic Half Hour'. The whole affair ends with 'You Messed Up', an attempt to be psychedelic which holds no authority whatsoever. This song in two parts is really quite poor as it fails in an attempt to weird out after yet another jangly pop intro. 'Cactus Flower's Magic Hour' is a totally inoffensive record throughout with no direction or real quality, and in a world overflowing with lady singer-songwriters you have to pull out all the stops to grab a listener's attention.

Track Listing:-

1 china blue
2 darkest hour
3 summertime
4 jojo
5 left the lights on
6 redbird
7 cola
8 lose your head
9 lady in red
10 you messed up

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/cactusflowermusic
http://cactusflower.bandcamp.com/releases

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