Album Review: Andrew Stockdale - Keep Moving

Lead guitarist and singer of the successful hard rock band Wolfmother, Andrew Stockdale has set out on his own path with this self-produced solo effort that ventures into a lighter, bluesy style of rock.

Opening track and debut single, Long Way To Go, is the album's standout track. With its pop song structure and its catchy, anthemic guitar riffs, it has a sound that will appeal to a wide spread of listeners and Stockdale allows himself to stretch his vocal range with some perfectly high-pitched yelps. The title track is another highlight, written in a similar style but with added emphatic key changes and soaring back-up vocals. On the tracks composed in this lighter, country-tinged style, you can feel Stockdale smiling as he sings and there is a sense of bliss reflected in the reckless abandon of his electric guitar solos.

The rest of the album is a rollicking journey through rock'n'roll and it does “keep moving” at a steady pace from start to finish. However there are 17 tracks in total and tunes like Let It Go, despite its grandiose guitar, start to sound the same.

The record ends with two satisfyingly soulful ballads. The acoustic Everyday Drone has great Beatles-esque melodies and a smattering of harmonica, which adds a great variation to the texture of the album and It Occurred To Me is the perfect rumbling but gentle close to a rough and tumble, energetic album.

The instrumental solos and Stockdale's stylised high register singing voice are what sets Keep Moving apart and while sometimes the repetition of style is monotonous, it's a feelgood album and leaves the listener with a definite spring in their step.