Review: Amanda Fish – Kingdom
Amanda Fish – Kingdom
Format: CD – Digital / Label: VizzTone Label Group
Release: 2024
Text: Pascal Wilhelm
This is Amanda Fish’s third record after ‘Down In The Dirt’ (2014) and ‘Free’ (2019). For ‘Down In The Dirt,’ she received the “Sean Costello Rising Star” Blues Music Award and for ‘Free’ she won a Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist album. As a European, I don’t know how many awards there are to win for blues musicians in the US, but Amanda surely attracted attention with her work.
‘Kingdom’ contains songs that are “influenced by the events of the pandemic, riots, and government corruption, seen through the eyes of a new parent and frontline healthcare worker”, according to the press release.
On this record, she nurtures faith, hope and redemption with a message of truth and love (“A human being has more meaning than convenience” from Mother). But life is hard. Money is short (Broke Ass Blues) and your got to work (Work). She warns us to make the right choices (“Just remember when you’re old and grey and you’ve wasted your days. That, baby, you chose this” from Sell The Record), act now (“Wake up and fight before you lose everything” from The Great Reset) and in the interests of the generations to come (“It’s not death that I fear but what kind of world we’re leaving behind”, from The World We Leave Behind).
This is the first time I learn about Amanda’s work. Her songs are honest and sincere, and her voice can rock your socks off. Songs on this record are embedded in a nice bath of blues-infused rock, adequately supporting Amanda’s vocal delivery.
Do you want to hear a song that can break your heart? Listen to Mother. I’ll leave you with the lyrics:
I’ve lost a baby at the hands of another. [ ..]
I should have protected you and I’m the one to blame.
They said you were nothing and that I’d recover
But I was your mother, [ …]
I was meant to shelter and love you
Oh I was your mother”
Tracks:
01. Mockingbird
02. Sell The Record
03. The Hard Way
04. Unbreakable
05. The Great Reset
06. Broke Ass Blues
07. Work
08. The World We Leave Behind
09. Mother
10. Kingdom
Website: https://www.amandafishband.com/