Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Occasionally life grants you a moment to look beyond the emerald veil, the eyes of the wizard looking down on you with kindness rather than mischief, a single glance at a performer who embraces a feeling of non-conformity but who has the range to delight and make music seem simple, honest and with just the right amount of poetry in their soul in which to open your heart to them.
Art as a concept is always under pressure, it has dragons of politics and dangerous pride in which is constantly trying to suggest that to be different is to starve, to appear to be engaged with a tune is to wallow in self-reflection and not in the national interest. To go against that tide is to appear at best off the wall, at worst, and in the eyes of the dangerously deluded, a threat to the status quo.
It is in the humour, self-deprecating and with the right decorum involved which makes Charlie Austen the perfect accompaniment to Glenn Tilbrook on a tour which was able to stop off at Liverpool’s Epstein Theatre and add a glimmer of hope, a sizeable chunk of respect to those who see the world through the truth of differently coloured lenses.
Songs that make you think about the vulnerability of the human spirit and how we overcome setbacks and disappointments are always ones that should be encouraged, the same songs that draw you in, that witnesses the nakedness of our emotions being ravaged, being soothed, contemplating beauty, these are the tracks in which to find a soul to love and Charlie Austen’s presence on stage, in front of an audience willing her on is a reflection of that success.
In a short but compelling set, Charlie Austen opened up to the audience with no pressure baring across her shoulders. In songs such as Middle Ground, Little Universe, Blame, Traces of You, Copenhagen, Slave To Chemistry and Wonder With Me saw musings on love, rejection, heartache and death dealt with purpose and poise, the nakedness of feelings becoming a mirror in which we should all seek solace, which we could all look into and find that one common bond, hope.
A marvellously presented set, Charlie Austen joins the ranks of musicians who have been taken to the hearts of the Liverpool music lovers.
Ian D. Hall