You are hereAlbum Review: Cera Impala and the New Prohibition - Higher Place (BCB Records)
Album Review: Cera Impala and the New Prohibition - Higher Place (BCB Records)
Everything you might expect from a 'wild banjo-wielding mama' and more. Berlin-based Cera Impala puts a new slant on old timey mountain music with her hard driving clawhammer style banjo on this second album with her band The New Prohibition, the follow up to 2007's BUSTED. The trio comprise Jovanka von Wilsdorf on bass and Dirk Ronneburg on fiddle and guitar, whilst Impala alternates between banjo and guitar with her own very distinctive voice throughout.
There's some familiar songs included here, such as the traditional In the Pines, Cluck Old Hen and Orange Blossom Special, which at one point bursts into The Flintstones theme tune adding even more fun to an already fun number, all imbued with an old time feel but treated to contemporary arrangements. Whilst Ronnenberg takes the lead on his own Foggy Window Backup, Impala shows her sensitive side with a couple of tender moments in Whisky and the bluesy album closer Sweet Sue.
Allan Wilkinson
Northern Sky
