John Coletta
Album: ...Sleekit, Slivers...
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 15
Website: http://www.johncoletta.com

To be honest when I saw the sleeve for "...Sleekit, Slivers..." I feared a little for what it might contain, delightful though the Gordon Cambell created artwork is, with it's overtones of humerous highland kitsch. Ideal for posters, mugs and teatowels may not seem like the right message for branding an album, then I remembered where I reconised the name John Colleta from, I'd interviewed him when he was the front man of much missed, festival favourites The Humpff Family.

Certainly as far as the South Coast of England was concerned, he appeared to drop out of site, but apparently, he kept himself busy North of the Border, releasing a solo album, "Living In Hope" as well as solo performances at festivals, songwriting workshops and tutoring a number of up and coming mandolin players and guitarists.

With a more band based approach to the new album, it's allowed him to distill some of the spirit of aforemetioned Humpff Family back into the sound, a more than significant reason for that being a re-activated song-writing partnership with David Fitzpatrick, the team responsible for the material from that band.

The album pitches in from the left field, it's slightly off kilter and there are points where the lyrics have an almost chaotic sequence to them, but ultimately they do find their final destination albeit by a roundabout route, often pulling the threads together at the last minute.

"...Sleekit, Slivers..." is a grand (re)introduction to the works of John Coletta, it's rarely a bad thing to find a wall to bounce off.

Neil King