Review

With Addicted To You, When Rivers Meet further cement their status as one of Britain’s most exciting blues-rock outfits. The Essex-based husband-and-wife duo, Grace and Aaron Bond, have delivered an album that brims with soul, swagger, and unmistakable grit. If their previous efforts nudged the door open, this one kicks it clean off its hinges. The album opens with the title track, Addicted To You — a sultry, stomping declaration of obsession that showcases Grace’s vocals in full hurricane mode. She is a force of nature throughout, her voice equal parts rasp and revelation, calling to mind Janis Joplin with a more precise edge. Aaron’s guitar work, meanwhile, is lean, dirty, and expertly restrained, allowing the songs to breathe rather than be drowned in bravado. There's a confident eclecticism at play here. Perfect Stranger swings with a retro groove that could have been plucked from Muscle Shoals circa 1973, while Golden offers something more haunting and introspective — a slow-burning ballad that reveals the duo’s skill at storytelling. Elsewhere, tracks like Play My Game and The Secret are all pounding drums and fuzzed-out riffs, toeing the line between classic rock homage and modern blues reinvention. Lyrically, the Bonds tread familiar blues territory — longing, temptation, sin — but they do so with a knowing wink and an unshakeable chemistry. There’s a theatricality to their delivery that never feels forced, helped in no small part by their shared intuition as performers and partners. If there's a criticism to be made, it's that the album plays it a touch safe. While it’s gorgeously produced and undeniably tight, one might wish for a moment of real unpredictability — a sharp left turn into the unknown. That said, Addicted To You isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. Instead, it polishes it to a brilliant shine and barrels forward with undeniable purpose. Ultimately, When Rivers Meet have crafted an album that feels both timeless and immediate. Addicted To You is not just a love letter to the blues — it’s a reminder that the genre still has fresh stories to tell, especially in the hands of artists as impassioned as this.

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