The Fruitful Earth – “Rising Sun”

“Rising Sun” is the second album from The Fruitful Earth and is actually released on April 28th. The band are continuing to develop a lot of interest from the music press and also getting some good airplay as well, so the future looks bright. The band describes their sound themselves as “fully wired rock n roll! Inspired by bands from the early seventies”.
The album begins with a classic piano opening on the song “Firebird”, before it moves in to a slow ballad before occasionally ‘wigging out’. It’s fair to say that it’s an eclectic start to the album. It may confuse many listeners on first hearing, but you should definitely persevere with the album beyond this track. The next song “Sun” opens similarly, with a restrained piano and vocal performance. It then builds in to an expansive and beautiful song, much like a sun rise. They then add a bit of funk on the awesome track “Honey Bee” which is, if you can imagine it, like a pop piano led Black Keys’ track.

“Up All Night” shifts the influences into a more soul like work out, it’s like the Scissor Sisters but with the O.T.T. dial turned right down. “ Natural High” is similar with the sprightly piano line keeping the whole song swaying along. The soul returns with “Rolling Free” but this time in a passionate, slow and seductive song.
The band really do shake things up with the appropriately titled “Shake”, which has some great “Bonham” sounding drums before the whole song hits a kind of psychedelic, Zeppelin esque rock out. Then “Sweet Music” has got summertime hit written all over it. There’s a laid back cool which will be irresistible on a hot summers day. Speaking of cool, a special mention to the band for calling a song “Ford Cortina”!
The album ends with “Love” which is an epic, mid paced song that allows the beauty of both the piano playing and vocals to really shine. Like many of the songs, it ties in with the album title and cover, as it has a real rising sun warmth to it.
Let’s hope that this album release is a prelude to a long hot summer. The songs on it will certainly leave you with a warm and pleasant glow. Alternatively, even if the weather isn’t great, the songs here will at least bring some joy to the listener. Many albums of this type can be too sweet, but this is full of songs with melodies but also a variety of influences and styles which ensure you will revisit the songs again and again.