Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is easy to love James Wyatt, the young performer almost shyly stipulates such cool and terrific poise on stage that to not admire him, to not fall for the songs of bitterness, of despair and desperate longing in an unfair and charmless world, is to realise that your ears have long since given up the task they were appointed for, that this is music that sits very much in the same vein as some of the great performers at their most iconic and virtuous.

It may be easy to love James Wyatt’s musical stance but he certainly makes you pay for it, this is after all no free show, no arrangement of gratis will ever come from the young man and the price is emotional, it is to have your heart ripped out and sewn back in with care, it is to question why the downbeat and low are just so illuminating and the answer can only be found in artists such as Mr. Wyatt who make the modest sound extraordinary.

As part of the fourth birthday celebrations of String and Things at Parr Street’s Studio 2, James Wyatt’s self denial, his pure concentration on the job at hand is laudable; it is uncompromising and full of genuine affection. The beat may seem to restrained but listen to the song underneath, like witnessing the formation of a rainbow through the blackest day, James Wyatt brings sunshine and hope, even when he self deprecates about bringing down the mood.

The crowd at Studio 2 were treated to a set that was comprised of such songs as What I’m Looking For, Stranger’s Arms, Just For Tonight, Know By Now, First Time In A While and Forgot About You Now, it was set that was glowing, made the audience optimistic about the future of song writing and encapsulated the raw and colossal talent brimming under the surface, waiting to explode in heat and buoyancy, of James Wyatt.

A set of cool, of Steve McQueen like endurance and unruffled demeanour; James Wyatt could not be more serene and unflappable, a young great who strides the big stage.

Ian D. Hall