Review: Amanda Fish ‘Kingdom’

Review: Amanda Fish ‘Kingdom’

By Hal Horowitz

The story goes that when they were younger, the Kansas City based Fish sisters (Amanda and Samantha) would head to separate rooms to practice; Samantha on guitar and older sibling Amanda to refine her vocals.

Blues rock fans know that Samantha has since become one of the foremost performers in her field, releasing a stream of increasingly popular recordings since 2011s debut. While Amanda has been less visible or productive, her two albums created enough attention to nab prestigious blues honors including 2019s Blues Music Award for Best Emerging Artist.

Kingdom (out July 26), the older Fish sister’s third set and first since 2018, is a comeback of sorts. Six years is a long time to go between releases. But the 10 songs that emerged during that time, which includes the pandemic years, hit particularly hard. They deliver powerful, often heated, comments on the socio-political conditions in America.

Although sister Samantha is no slouch as a singer, Amanda’s voice is deeper, rougher and more potent. Her gruffer attack perfectly reflects the darker lyrics driving these bluesy, frequently dusky, introspective, indie sizzlers.

From the oozing, eerie crawl of “Unbreakable” (“… I am so weary/Of carrying the weight of your world/And you don’t even hear me”), to the chilling solo piano (played by the singer) ballad “Mother” (lamenting the death of family members (“I’ve lost sisters, I’ve lost brothers/I’ve lost a baby at the hands of another”) and the creeping cautionary tale “The World We Leave Behind” (“It’s not death that I fear/But what kind of world we’re leaving behind”) where she lets loose with an unsettling howl, most of these songs are not going to be the life of any party.

But they’re not trying to be.

Rather, Fish and her band nail a swampy groove. That’s true even on the few upbeat rockers such as “Sell the Record,” a self-descriptive title that lashes out at the commerciality of the music and radio industry with even greater antagonistic force than Elvis Costello’s “Radio Radio” (“They own your face, they own your name/They take your pay and make you play the hits”). While her sister is MIA, Amanda features impressive guitar talent in Billy Evanochoko who burns on the aforementioned tune as the rhythm section chugs behind him.

The modified country lope of “Broke Ass Blues” brings a lighter sonic approach although, as the title implies, the words are unsettling. They are sung by a protagonist whose funds have run out, unsure of her future, singing as she falls to her knees pleading “Please, God, see us through.”/Cuz I don’t see how we’ll get through this mess/They charge us, and fine us, and tax us to death.”

Fish goes deep Mississippi delta for the grinding gutsy, reverbed guitar slink of the closing title track. She handles slide on a tune inspired by the work of R.L. Burnside and the Black Keys as the strength of the stripped-down, steady beat gradually intensifies. The song speaks to spiritual redemption with the power of a saved soul “I’d beg and plead ‘God, please show me your way.’/ He brought me from the evil of that place/And gave me redeeming grace.”

It’s as disturbing and passionate as it sounds and closes an album that’s emotionally and musically invigorating despite, or more likely because of, its bleakest moments.

Pre-order the album Here

“Mockingbird”