Album Review: Gary Clark Jr - Blak And Blu

BANG! Like stepping outside on a 45-degree day, the opening blast of Gary Clark Jr's latest album hits you in the face and the sweat starts dripping instantly. With a sound far beyond his years, Clark is a bona fide star, as his sold-out tours and accessible brand of blues and soul would attest. Anyone unsure of what to expect during his Big Day Out set this week, don't worry – it's gonna be killer.

Blak And Blu is an incredibly diverse album, and it's delivered with real polish. There are times, such as with the R&B-flavoured title track and The Life, where this polish detracts from the screaming guitar riffs of When My Train Pulls In and Third Stone From The Sun/If You Love Me Like You Say. At times, it unfortunately almost feels like Clark is trying to please everyone – perhaps the restriction of working with a major label for the first time.

But at his best, like on the hell-bent rockabilly train ride of Travis County (Clark is from Austin, Texas, a town smack bang in the middle of the county in question), or the Elvis-inspired ballad, Please Come Home, Clark is unstoppable. A guaranteed heartbreaker, his soulful voice draws inevitable comparisons to Marvin Gaye, and if you've spent more than ten minutes on a Melbourne train over the past month, you'll be aware from his tour posters that comparisons between Clark and, gulp, Jimi Hendrix abound.

This reviewer is not going to descend into any such hyperbole here, but Blak And Blu is still pretty bloody good, and proves the perfect starting point to examine Clark's back catalogue. There's sure to be more gold to discover.