Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The internet might be to blame for many things in life but in one small corner of a bedroom near the Mersey, the sound of young music ability and craftsmanship has taken shape and might never have been heard had it not been for what the internet can do when used properly and as a tool for the betterment of lives and social good.

For Liam Brown, youth is not a byword for the many myriad of names that get bandied about the unwavering tabloid papers in their ever increasing search to make feckless martyrs out of all who they deem fit to scare into an early grave and state of apoplexy. Instead, like many thousands of others in the city, their time is used to display the talent that breathes inside of them and for whom as of yet, the wide world is not ready to quite take on the words or whereabouts of a young wordsmith.

Yet, in Liam Brown and his self recorded and utterly charming album, Dogs & Other Wild Things, the sense of maturity is overwhelming. It is like finding a young Rembrandt or Hockney wiling away the hours in their room, the open window and shaded curtains the company that inspires the burgeoning mind and knowing that if they are good at this tender age, then what can round the corner, what does the future hold as he becomes more at peace with the world; it is the question that beguiles and gratifies belief in the young.

The minds of the young are so malleable, so open to opportunities and experiences, that those who find comfort in the beige of middle-age, will always try to suggest they need to grow-up, that they need to get out into the so called real world and taste bitterness and resentment, the dreams being diluted and losing their lustre; it’s perhaps no wonder that may turn against their older peers.

The album though is sweet, generous, it plays with the idea of youth but as a mature and grounded entitlement, not a bat to attack those who may seek salvation in their own delight of placing obstacles in the way of new thought. Tracks such as Movies, the responsibility of thought in I Need Your Time, Bags and Smell The Air are masterful in the making and are ripe beyond their years.

The internet may harbour some of the most awful things, it may cry out in the dark and be a spoiled, petulant child, but when it offers the chance to listen to the likes of Liam Brown, it should be congratulated in the same way that the artist should be, with glowing terms and strongly applauded.

Ian D. Hall