Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are many rivers to navigate but the road is the one that perhaps gives a greater sense of broken-down romance, the ambling or the raging waterway will still be surrounded by the deft touch of nature on either side of the steep banks, but the highway holds dark secrets, many intersections that criss-cross, the one dirt track of a decision that leads inevitably  to heartbreak and nightmares. The unavoidable meetings with the one who calls the toll; all in all the river of life is a walk in the park compared to those who don’t heed the emotional warnings of the Roads That Cross our path.

However to blaze your own trail in life, to lead a sense of adventure is a right we must hold on to with every fibre of our being, the highway, the boulevard, every avenue must be explored, the road is long as The Hollies once observed and yet it holds mystery, it favours the brave and the hardy, the only decent approach is to put away the map, turn up the radio and tune in to an artist with heart, with a stamp of style that is brimming with opportunity, an artist such as Belgrade born, but most certainly on the road raised Katarina Pejak.

“The best teacher is experience and not through someone’s distorted point of view”, Kerouac wrote earnestly, it is an act of faith placed upon us all and one that is fully espoused by the musician as she continues to stick pins in the road maps of life. Throughout songs such as the opener Nature Of My Blues, the fatalistic realisation of truth that haunts Sex Kills, Moonlight Rider, Turtle Blues and the beautiful menace that underlines The Harder You Kick, the songs rule with a rod of iron, yet there is always room for manoeuvre, guided, aided, embraced musically by the erstwhile Mike Zito, this unique musician seeks the answer to the question of existence, our time here on Earth with a sense of enquiring challenge.

“Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me, as is ever so on the road”, if the elegant poetic nature of Kerouac can inspire through such examples of the Roads That Cross, then Ms. Pejak has found a way to live it. Gloriously haunting Blues driven memories and reflections, such is life as you seek the extraordinary.

Ian D. Hall