Rootstime...March 2009

Just a year ago, we at Rootstime were surprised by a very original CD from a blues band from Greece, of all places!

"Small Blues Trap" that band was called and the singer, guitarist and frontman Paul Karapiperis especially attracted our attention: their music was, thanks to him, a very special blend of all the good ingredients fromthe Delta, and especially Paul's typical Tom Waits-like vocals and singing style was remarkable.

The only minor complaint we had about that release was the abundance of extravagant and sometimes carnival-esque additives in their sound which sometimes was a bit "over the top ", especially given the very short duration time of the whole release, about forty minutes .

However, The frontman now has released his own debut and the first problem is solved, no more or at least less crazy additives,what we get here instead is a nice balanced blues CD with only the strong elements remaining.

Paul's wonderful voice, which we only can describe again as " very regularly reminding of Tom Waits, is very strong, but this time focused on the blues.

Mainly with a quiet atmosphere, acoustic, and with occasionally some nice mellow harmonica work.

The love of Paul for short songs which create a sort of soundscape or cinematic soundtrack still remains, and sometimes it feels like little films, as the title already indicates, fifteen short fragments full of bluesy feelings .

Together, these fifteen songs are just enough for three quarters of music.

However, I fully enjoyed this CD, soul filled songs about love, reflections and obsessions, like a somewhat theatrical scenario.

Paul's quiet harp playing and his tricone steel guitar bring the Delta to Malesina ,Greece.

Songs like "In wood Alcohol Line", "SBT" and "Up In Heaven & Down In Hell" are great examples of how Paul's blues is at his best, and we would like to see it evolve that way, with both feet planted deep in the pre-war blues and using that unique voice of him.

This would even get him some attention in America, we think.

In that case, we would advice him to reduce the"soundtrack" style songs to a minimum, and add some more deep, pure blues tracks. He has proven he's a master in that!

(RON)