Sever's kicked around the States for a decade now, and this is her third album but the first with such a stellar back up band. It's no surprise that Stevie Ray Vaughan was her first inspiration, and she exhibits much of his tone and attack. But it's all mellowed down by her quoted desire to make this a funkdriven album. This context pitches her nearer the likes of Robben Ford. Like Ford, she has an enviable technical facility, and she stretches out with no little style on the likes of ‘Showtime’ or the dirtier, slower tempo of ‘Wild Love’. Yet, also like Ford, there's something curiously soulless about the whole project. You feel she'd be happier in a more straight ahead blues/rock context. So for now I'd swap Sever's extended solos for one chorus of Susan Tedeschi's grunt and sweat.