Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10
The uncharted territory of being unsure of how an album will be received is always in the thoughts of a band as they, hopefully with great care, hand over the exchange of long, tiring hours, a few near nervous exhaustive breakdowns and spirited highs in which the world was a prospect of gleaming towers and expectant green fields. It is the moment in which an artist is beset with pride and optimism whilst battling fatigue and bouts of serial negativity.
Most times the album is a straight forward yes or no in the eyes of the listener almost straight away, whilst a few, the ones that seem to stick strangely in the middle after the first listen, gain such momentum that the initial thought will not be the one that lingered in the minds afterwards. The smile can only come out so often on a daily basis but for Bowker and their album Sail To The Deep, the understanding flows harder and the grip of the tantalising tales grows more sturdy as the album progresses. The smile of enjoyment, like a 19th Century passenger steamer chugging its way across the raging waters of the English Channel, eventually surfaces on the other side and puts any doubt to one side.
For Andy Jones, Rob Kirby and Frank Jones the collective feel of Sail To The Deep is one in which they might have put as an aside the old sailors cautionary map sign of ‘Here Be Monsters’. For within the forceful fathoms of Metal like delivery lays the beating heart of a Progressive dream, the much vaunted and adulated concept album. A concept that owes much to the thought of The Tempest, the concentration and ideals of many a high-seas tale and in the back ground, the smashing waves of passion as the three musicians bring the album like Moby Dick into land.
It may take time to really get into the flow, there is no disguising that, but once there, once the harness is off and the songs crack their whip, the set sail with unbridled joy.
With the addition of the exceptional Jo Bywater on the track The Dream (Valentina Part 2) the album stands tall and with pride. Tracks such as My Father’s Vessel, the aforementioned The Dream, All At Sea and Sirens quell the gathering storm of possible nerves and navigate safely into home port.
A progressive dream, possibly unintended but it is the narrative of the album that gives it this wonderful quality, nothing is becalmed, nothing wrecked, just a very good album in which to plunder for all it is worth.
Ian D. Hall