Roxanne de Bastion, Seeing You. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

In every song there should be so much passion placed that it must ooze and clamber out of the stereo and find its way Blob like into the ears of the listener to become enthused with the lyrical coolness and the itching to understand the depth in which some musical instruments can take human emotion to.

Life without passion is just the same as finding oneself watching six hours of television a day and guzzling a bottle of wine without truly tasting it every night, the lustre, the shine of some freedoms are never worth it and enthusiasm for the world soon starts to wane into nothing.

One remedy for such indifference and apathy to the world, to life, is to find a set of songs that really kick the dust into touch and in which are delivered with genuine guile and forthright zeal. The delicate balance between song and lyric writer tipped forever one way and back again in a seesaw ride over ever bump and crevice that can be thrown at it.

In Roxanne de Bastion’s 2014 E.P. Seeing You, the long hard stare at what the world reflects back at her is a realisation of greatness, of a story-teller not encumbered by negative thoughts but who embraces the talent she has in abundance.

The four tracks that make up Seeing You are upbeat, sanguine and full of narrative journeys, of taking the listener down a wooded glade and having the dance of a lifetime played out infront of them; it is the Midsummer Night’s Dream without the sight of a donkey in view.

Alongside the E.P.’s title track, Wasteland really gets to grip with how a musical story should be presented and Rerun and Same Moon flow with the fanatical obsession afforded many of the greats. Seeing You is a vision, a mental picture taken without flash, without colourful additions and mountainous editing making it look and sound beyond what Ms. Bastion intended; this is a Polaroid straight from the camera and the image is starkly beautiful.

Seeing You is a wonderful piece of music and one to be cradled by with honour.

Ian D. Hall