Roseanna Ball, Time. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Time in the end is all we have as the song goes and for some Time is more than just the passing of the day and the wonderment of a journey, Time is the ability to look back and mourn, to sense the loss acutely and to be able to capture it in such a way that it evokes memories, that it invokes life to its fullest potential. For Time is Roseanna Ball’s ally, friend and patient confident; Time is what she has.

If Time is a coming of age in the eyes of Ms. Ball then for the listener it is a chance to place their soul into the heart of another’s experiences, the way to feel the sense of abiding loss and circumstances in which the young performer immerses herself into bringing an album of strength and powerful imagery to the attention of all.

It is the loss of decency, of the ability to look Government in the face and give them short shrift and the helplessness felt when the passing of Time does not heal the savage wounds inflicted with almost systematic intent. Yet from out of this sense of overpowering loss that Ms. Ball moulds in the shape of songs such as The Thatchers, the beautiful Pompeii Lovers, Too Soon and the fantastic Laid Down, that really catches the ear, that wants to have the listener understand that loss is universal and that nobody is immune; that above all there is never a time limit upon grief.

For her debut professional album release, Ms. Ball captures the essence of performance wonderfully, that as much as procrastination might feel comfortable, that it might be the most secure place to reside, in the end Time will always find a way to end the denial of the time itself, that it will suggest in no uncertain terms that the muse needs to be fed, that desire must be kept willing.

A wonderful debut by the multi-talented musician and proof that Time in the hands of Roseanna Ball is nothing short of breathlessly elegant.

Ian D. Hall