Soaring up to the Electric Blue

Photo by Nicola Gell

Raveis Kole - Electric Blue Dandelion (Nashville Sessions 2018)

Raveis Kole obviously mean business and have an impressive online presence so the Music Eye team were honoured to be invited to film a stripped-down acoustic set at the renowned Pilton Working Mens Club near the legendary Glastonbury Festival site, which is a hotbed for emerging artists.

A tasteful medley of live performances from counter-culture stars such as Joni Mitchell and Neil Young were being projected onto the stage when we arrived prior to the gig, which seemed to reflect an authentic appreciation of the real deal here.

Laurie Raveis and Dennis Kole arrived onto the stage and warmly invited us into a simple sharing of their story so far, which put together made me conclude that all this love and magic has been the silver lining on the dark cloud of the death of Laurie's mother.

You must listen to the title track “Electric Blue Dandelion” which is an ode to Laurie’s mother, interestingly put together with a particularly exciting cello hook, which makes me want to play it again and again.

The songs are well-crafted and have a gentle sentimentality; not just country songs but real folk songs which embody a mixture of influences from South California to Europe, through the Middle East and then onto India.

Along with the Electric Blue Dandelion, two other tracks particularly stand out for me - "Aloha" which is a great opener on the album and inspired by a true story based in Laurie and Dennis’ hometown, Bellingham WA where three motels - Aloha, Macs and The Villa Inn were pervasive in the local news for illicit activities, drug sales and overdoses. Again, it’s a very well produced track with more impressive cello and Celtic undertones, evoking an image of the Western Isles of Scotland emerging from the sea mists of the Atlantic

And then “Precipice of Forgiveness” which is apparently about the journey of forgiveness, has a unique mix of middle eastern violin fused with Indian singing and country acoustic guitar.

Overall the album is beautifully produced by Laurie and Dennis (and Jeff Silverman at Palette Studio), and they have obviously invested a lot of faith, time, love and work into living this dream together so we wish them the best of luck.

Find out more at: https://www.raveiskole.com/