For those of us not completely au fait with Kris Barras’ career, it can be problematic getting a handle on where he’s coming from. A former professional mixed martial arts combatant, but I first saw him live as a support act to Beth Hart, playing an acoustic guitar. So a lover not a fighter, or what?
He’s been fronting the Kris Barras Band since 2015, initially playing blues rock, but they’ve been getting progressively heavier in recent years. He also took a sidestep playing with the Supersonic Blues Machine back in 2018. Hollow Souls is apparently influenced by his stint with them. The Souls call themselves a collective: Barras plays guitar, sings and writes songs; Josiah J. Manning produces, plays guitar and keyboards; while Phoebe Jane handles vocals. The EP features drummer Joe Harris and bassist Leighton Allen, while live back in October they had Chris Tilke and Paddy Blight in those respective roles.
The EP also features several guest artists, and while that initially drew some attention when singles tumbled out last year, it’s the songs and how they’ve stirred each of them into a musical melting pot that matter most. Sprinkling vibes old and new, they’ve created a heady brew.
They hit the ground running with debut single ‘Borderline’, guest featuring Stateside guitarist Jared James Nichols, which sets the tone for the band’s overall sound. Delivering hollering work song chanting over bluesy ruminating riffs, early on we hear echoes of award-winning married duo When Rivers Meet. But once those riffs latch on with added Zeppelin-primed fury and vocalist Phoebe Jane starts singing out loud, clear and most assuredly in high register, it’s a different game. On paper, adding a third guitarist reads like overkill, but Jared James Nichols was an inspired choice, adding a wiry spirit we more reserved Brits might not have opted for and taking it somewhere that little bit more special.
Marrying Motown-signed Rare Earth hip-riffed masculine rhythm ‘n’ blues to a strident, deeply intoned vocal reminiscent of Paul Rodgers’ delivery on early Free numbers, you get ‘Bad Things’, featuring another guest in the form of The Cold Stares’ Chris Tapp singing the verse lines. The trouble is you may find yourself digging the groove so much that you need to put it on replay to fully appreciate the song’s juxtapositioning lyrical wordplay. All this while Jane interjects with a smouldering psyched soul delivery come the choruses. It’s Cameo by way of Gun, Lenny Kravitz mixing it up with Jamiroquai, but basically some nasty-but-nice blues dripping in sweat-stained soul.
‘I Need The Fire’ comes as an odd but pleasant surprise, guitars moving at a steady gallop like some 80s NWOBHM band taking a stab at Wings’ ‘Medicine Jar’ with a female vocalist belting out soulfully over the top. With finger-clicking, toe-tapping urgency, ‘Burn It To The Ground’ features another guest, with Elles Bailey taking lead vocals and co-writing credits. The song raises hell in a glorified baptism of sure-fired Southern Gothic soul rock.
Monster Truck’s Jon ‘Marv’ Harvey stepped up to the mic, co-writing what was their sophomore single ‘Shotgun‘. Now, should you consider that it initially comes across like some classic T. Rex album track where Jimmy Page and Angus Young have gone in and beefed up the guitars, then we’re on the same page, and about as ancient. But there’s an added rock dance floor element, some suitably hoary upfront vocals plus soulful ones in support, all over some rather apt fighting talk lyricisms that kind of insinuate you ought to play this loud – Or else!
The final number sees Barras taking lead vocals, and it’s ‘Chasing Ghosts’, a melancholy change of pace. Folk ballad structured, bearing lines like “When you hear their last words fading, like the picture on the wall,” it’s an incandescent torch song dedicated to his late father that, like some Pink Floyd epic, solos tormentedly while voices wail out.
‘Chasing Ghosts’ reveals a side to Kris Barras that’s up close and personal. It’s possible the Hollow Souls collective, with all its guests, might have begun as a body of work involving those close to him to help ward off introspective feelings and natural grief. On the evidence of the songs produced, what they tend to do is celebrate life. It’s a direction worthy of continuing wherever the roads lead.
Hollow Souls’ EP is available here.
