Big Blue Car - Mortal Orbits EP

Big Blue Car

​Mortal Orbits EP
self-released; 2018

​3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Big Blue Car aka Kevin Paul Williams is an artist who resides on the south coast of England in the UK. I was reading about his accomplishments and there is one I have to point out which is too cool not to mention - “watching 'Spinal Tap' for the first time with Rolling Stone's bass player Bill Wyman, at one of his homes in the UK.” I love that. Moving on Williams is a musician who seems to have some experience under his belt. Similar to myself he is kind of past the days of wanting to play live (this happened to me once I got to my mid-30’s) and prefers to record on his own. That accumulated into a recent effort entitled Mortal Orbits EP.

The EP starts with the title track “Mortal Orbits” and I was a fan about two minutes in. It’s an atmospheric folk song with a good amount of energy. The song starts with guitar and drums but leaves plenty of space. Once the the verse hits the song is smooth like velvet. The background vocal harmonies were lovely against the slide guitar. That being said the lead vocals are the focal point and the tone, inflection and texture were easy to appreciate. Williams sings, “On the water sirens pulled him down / Creeping daylight blinds the night sky.” It’s a longer song but the rhythms, hook and instrumentation made it feel like it was over quicker than I expected.

I liked “Peaceful Day (Red Tarn Version)” even more than the opener. I’m a sucker for banjo, folks, especially when it’s implemented on melancholy. There is a bit of a Pink Floyd vibe happening here.

​Speaking of cosmic, “Hurry On Sundown” certainly has that feel. It's hard not to think about an open sky with stars when listening to luminous pads and lead guitars which happens for the first two minutes. The song changes quite drastically into a very grounded folky pop song. You can make comparisons to early R.E.M. Last but not least is “God's Drone (Intro),” Hmm, just a tad confusing that this “intro” is the last song. Any who this song is the most ambient and is a mix or guitars and pads for the most part. It really did feel like an intro. In fact my only suggestion would be to put this song first and whittle it down to two - three minutes.

I really liked this EP. The songs are well crafted, the production is fantastic (especially for a home recording) and the delivery is spot on. Take a listen.

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