Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
No matter how good you are, how unique you sound, the freshness you bring to the table, trying to stand out in a world that has seven billion people all trying to carve themselves a little notch of history and to be remembered for the spirit and talent they possess can be a daunting and sometimes discouraging prospect in a world that even now, is essentially a jungle.
Wirral based band Sons of Mowgli take that prospect very seriously, it reflects in the calmness and almost unhindered glory of the music they have put together for their new E.P. Come What May. Taking each song as if it is a stepping stone across a tortuous and seemingly hazardous river full of creatures ready to pull them under and rip apart the first the sign of insecurity, the four band members of Sons Of Mowgli have made something that is enjoyable, very easy to listen to and has the slight hypnotic feel of staring into nature’s eyes and being on, if not an equal footing with the jungle then at least respected for their endeavour.
There is a gentleness, an undercurrent of order in the music that feels at times if it swaying between the softness of the Finn brothers from Crowded house and the unhindered biting landscape described so perfectly by American music legend Paul Simon. The jungle, whilst not tamed, is changed to something a little less terrifying, the hope is increased, even if the lyrics sometimes suggest otherwise, and each step provided by the musicians in the band lead to an even bigger prize.
The five songs on offer on the E.P., Market Street, What Hope?, the fantastic Over The Horizon, the innocent layering and texture of It’s Better To Tell Someone It’s Raining and the title track of the E.P. Come What May, jump out at the listener, not for the abandon in which to appease the strange exotic creatures that dwell in the music jungle but because they just sound so cool, so melodious and pleasant. It is music to take stock of the situation you are in, to light a camp fire and tell stories of old against.
It is a jungle out there, not all make it to the interior and out the other side but in some you hope they go a long way on their adventure and in Sons of Mowgli, the adventure surely has just begun.
Ian D. Hall