Two is definitely the magic number when it comes to 21st-century blues rock – the Kills, She Keeps Bees and the Black Keys have all followed the White Stripes in believing that anything more than a duo is over-complicating things.
In HFS the magic couple are Clifford brothers Aled (vocals, guitar) and Brennig (drums), who sound as if they were born and raised in the south – although possibly not the south of Wales.
Having embraced dad’s vinyl collection, these young bucks already have an excellent debut behind them in the shape of 2009’s raucous Everything’s For Sale. Donkey Jacket is more accomplished, nailing a timeless yet still vibrant heavy blues sound – the lyrics of the magnificent The Walking Crawl get it right: ‘Feels like a stampede going through my head’.
Apart from the brief respite of gravelly romantic acoustic ballads Heart On Fire and Across The Sky, this is thumpingly good whisky-drinking music that’s worth losing your boots for.
