Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Life is a balance between wanting to slip quietly into the pages of history having lived a life of good introspection, loved by family and friends but not wanting to cause ripples in the water and the need to leave some kind of mark so that history, in which ever guise, will look back upon your life on Earth with more than a curious footnote attached to your name; to be the one six million that whose name might inspire countless others to live a life and not be content to become a whisper in the breeze.
To be an very interesting person, one has to be have a song or a melody attached to them, the attention grabbing story in which we all possess as unique human beings with matchless tales of how we got to where we are is always possible and the songs others sing of your personal endeavour, always such a pleasure to hear, a pleasure replicated once again by the exceptional Findlay Napier in a follow up to his Very Interesting Persons album, the E.P. VIP Very Interesting Extras.
Produced by Boo Hewerdine, the E.P. is the ideal and unspoiled additional set of songs in which the idea of everyone having a story about them somewhere in their past is worthy of attention and for Findlay Napier the music and the tale go hand in hand with praise and succinct respect.
The five song strong E.P. captures the essence of the person being portrayed and the spirit of the album into which Mr. Napier poured his lyrical prose into upon release in 2015, it is an essence into which feel the same sense of quintessence and romantic musing for any person who makes the most of their life and allows a story to blossom.
In the two lead tracks How Will You Escape and Princess Rosanna Drowned In The Clyde, Mr. Napier brings that lyrical poetic charm to the forefront of framing a person’s life, achievements and perhaps illogical end with the sense of decency that is appropriate in such cases and never once does he allow the decency to step into a backdrop of sentimental whitewash, this is a person’s story, warts and all, it is after what makes them interesting.
VIP Very Interesting Extras is a beautifully laden E.P., one that brings out the very best in Findlay Napier.
Findlay Napier’s VIP Very Interesting Extras is released on February 19th.
Ian D. Hall