In the dirty garage of Aidan Martin’s mind are pinup posters of Rory Gallagher, Bad Co., Jimmy Page and Cream. But that doesn’t mean he’s just another white Fender-bender trying to be black as blues… ’cause he knows how to play a Gibson.

The seven-minute opening track, “Inside Out”, is a multi-riff-versed retro-rock-drama-turned-bad at a biker bar in 1970s Pretoria. It starts out all macho ’n’ mean and then reflects and mourns the violence with some slow-burning Les Paul wails. Although Martin can filthily shred his way through any sticky situation on the rest of the songs, he can also comfort you with the highly angelic guitar choir of “Tired Of The City”, about life on the road – definitely the album’s proudest moment.

There’s a lot of unexpected guitar-gold embedded in the arrangements (“Fallen From Grace”, “Weather Girl”, “Lost and Find”), but to find them, you’ll have to sit through the whole show – which also includes the contrasting instrumental track, “Farka Touré Blues”, where the sitar-meets-tuned-down-acoustic-guitar-in-India might make you wonder where the fuck you are.