Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Live music is important, everybody, the world, his wife and their sometimes ignorant children knows that the live arena is the most important approach for music in the 21st Century. Almost killed by rampant commercialism, the despicability of some streaming services not paying what an artist is due in full for their songs and the process of creativity being turned into a product rather than a little piece of their soul being turned into something beautiful and worth a lot more than money can buy; the live arena is the last natural place in which musicians of any standing get to feel appreciated.
This is especially true of those coming through the ranks of the 21st Century, the period of time when everybody expects and demands with raised voice but people are often busy talking to take serious notice, only getting inflamed when their phone, their faces pressed up right against it and ignoring the world, tell them that the latest celebrity couple have split up. The soundbite carrying more meaning than the novel or the headline proclaiming more than the explanation; the 21st Century is a dangerous place for the young upcoming performer; however, when they rise above the clatter of noisy chat they are to be heard as being proof positive that the future can look rosy.
For Astles, the voice is enough to know that it is a future with so much going for it, elegant, serene, like a wave gently lapping at a shore line but with energy carrying it into every cave or coastline nook, getting the person standing on the shore to smile at the turn of the world; this is the effect that Astles has on the heart and mind of the listener and one that should not be discouraged but given support to keep plugging on.
As one of the three supports to Paul Dunbar & The Black Winter Band, Astles made the most of his time on stage and carried the set with dignity, a decorum that was visible and welcome, each song given just enough spirit to rise above the clatter of glasses in Leaf and the background chat of an excited Friday evening crowd.
With songs such as No 12, Letters To Your Dad, You Don’t Know, Castles, Time Forgot and a very wonderful version of Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In The Dark, Daniel Astles stood proud and confident upon the Leaf stage and was decorated in great swathes of good will and the applause befitting one who stood firm against and with the tide.
A voice to listen out for, a sincere and earnest one filled with a smile and moving gravity.
Ian D. Hall