The Armada - The Armada

Thu 30th Jul, 2009 in Music Reviews

The music industry at large may not have felt the absence of The Tea Party as much as its dedicated fan base, but few can deny that over the course of their fifteen year tenure they carved a unique niche for themselves. Thanks chiefly to the unique musical vision of frontman Jeff Martin, who now presents his newest project, The Armada.

Following from a string of live albums and the little fanfare that his acoustic based solo album Exile and the Kingdom received, The Armada is both a return to familiar rock band territory and a chance for Martin to let his hair down. Together with drummer/percussionist Wayne Sheehy, The Armada could be viewed as a back to basics approach to song and sonics. Where previously Martin’s ambitions occasionally bogged down his compositions, here it is hewn into a tight set of songs that focus their ideas resplendidly within verse/bridge/chorus structures.

That The Armada occasionally sounds like early Tea Party is no mistake, but a conscious effort to recall the influential sounds and styles that first invigorated his musical sensibility. The results exhibited in the raggedy blues of Black Snake and Going Down Blues, elsewhere in the Middle Eastern infused charm of The Rosary, Baby’s Come Undone and Morocco, with an 7/8 stomp that (perhaps intentionally) recalls Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir.

The record also serves as a reminder of Martin’s velvety timbre which can be both inviting as it is on A Line In The Sand or yearning as on the U2 -esque Broken and the spiralling mantra of secret track I Want You.

Whether you’re a diehard fan or a noob there’s plenty to like about The Armada’s fusion of rock styles. If the smallest of Martin’s accomplishments with The Armada was to point listeners in the direction of The Tea Party’s rewarding back catalogue, then mission accomplished.