Eliza Neals - Colorcrimes
(E-H Records, 2024)
Eliza Neals is a blues-rock powerhouse of the same surrender-to-the-sound cadre as Mandy Lemons Nikides and Sass Jordan. All perform with an intense abandon that is as close as skin. But this is not just blues rock. Neals is full of that Detroit Soul, the gritty kind that makes you throw your head back. Colorcrimes is Neals’ twelfth release (depending on how one’s counting). She established herself with her recordings with Breaking And Entering (E-H Records, 2015) and 10,000 Feet Below (E-H Records, 2017) which she parlayed into the well-received Black Crow Moan (E-H, 2020) and Badder To The Bone (E-H Records, 2022).
Colorcrimes is a nine-song collection of originals that travel from acoustic-electric “Heal This Land” (Think “Blue On Black” sung in church) to the churchy piano-organ charm of the title song and the sleek and hip soul of “Something’s Better than Nothing,” and the suggestive blues of “Sugar Daddy.” Neals is pushing her genres into one another rubbing the 12-bar blues of “Candy Store” against the swampy serpentine “Found Me Another,” the sinewy slide guitar of Michael Puwal. Neals continues to develop and solidify her musical vision into one beautiful blues-rock-soul alchemic creation.