Bastette
Awakening – Self Released
There’s something reassuring about Bastette. They play solid hard rock with an ease and grace that means you know you’ll love everything they do. Each instrument is played with maturity, each note has a purpose, and then there’s Caroline Kenyon with those silky smooth vocals. She sounds like how you’d want someone to sing in a perfect world. Awakening may only be four tracks long but it packs a mighty punch. It has variety, depth and some lovely little twists and turns. You get reminded a whole lot of the greats past a present. A little bit of Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks on a quieter passage, a nod towards The Pretty Reckless/Taylor Momsen when the hammer is down. But Bastette are doing it their way, you can just tell where the influences come from. And influences cannot deliver quality, only talent and hard work can do that, and Bastette have quality in abundance. Here they’ve put out four songs that stand ten feet tall.
Review by Gary Trueman