Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
To class anything as interesting within the sphere of Art is perhaps counter-productive to the medium as a whole; it is far too simplistic, it engages nothing and is worth exactly the same. It drops the listener or the artistic voyeur into the same realm as the school class room, the teacher trying their best to impart knowledge to a child whose shrug of the shoulders suggests that it isn’t to them, that they, like many others are only in the room because they have to be.
Interesting doesn’t do anything justice, unless of course it is the finer working of Algebra on a wet Wednesday afternoon and with no chance of a half smashed alarm being pulled to dispel the monotony, what is required is the serving of a waitress to whom silver service comes second nature and to one whom aspires more than collecting tips, more than seeing the world through plates and the grunted self indulgence of passers-by; this is The Waitress to who the words Never Where I Want To Be is the most beautiful of sounds.
The Waitress, the pen name of the eclectic and mindful musician, Manchester based Ben Turner, takes the sense of sound and gives it a twist, the Parmesan cheese grater is given a flourish, the dose expected by the listener is more than they bargained for, the flavour enhanced, the meal and the dish given extra credit. Whilst the chef in the kitchen might find themselves the beneficiary of the compliments, it is always to The Waitress that the bounty on offer is considered more than palatable, it is seen and tastes divine.
Never Where I Want To Be, a cause concern or the truth of so many, having roots is one thing but when you have been taken from one place to another, when your home is any number of places in which the memories are strong and stride through the mind as if they were giants on a mission to catch an errant thief, then finding a point in which to savour the words that a person with ideas and craft in their soul, is even more important than ever; it is a soul that The Waitress is happy to offer as a starter, a main and the delightful desert in this particular single.
A heartfelt, positively brimming with a sense of the divine in his voice; Never Where I Want To Be is The Waitress with the memory of the long exhaustive order but one delivered without a single morsel out of place.
The Waitress is appearing at Liverpool’s Jacaranda on February 7th as the booked artist for Mellowtone’s Open Mic Night; he will be performing with one of the city’s favourite musicians, Luke Moore on cello.
Ian D. Hall