Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The only way it can be described is as a shame. There are stronger words that can be used but it would go against the grain of what the music scene in Malta provides its people but doesn’t seem to be picked up across the watery border that separates the U.K. from continental Europe; whatever the word is, Malta has an excellent burgeoning pedigree of music and one of the finest is the astonishing Airport Impressions.
Following on from the restless vocal heartbeat that swung with vigour and electric pace in the album Minutes of a Lifetime, comes the band’s musical tour de force, the compelling and explosive album Mariette.
For Errol Sammut, Johann Schembri, Chris Curmi and Steve Farrugia, the music they have produced on Mariette is as stimulating as walking down coast road in Sliema and as sultry as finding a few precious hours soaking up the sun on the small but perfectly formed beach that hugs the rocky shore line on neighbouring Comino. It positively glows and only makes anyone hearing it hanker for the delights of that island again.
Mariette never ceases to amaze, it has more to offer than just a typical Rock outfit might even think of putting out for public consumption. Dynamism pours off every instrument and the vocals really hit home, both combine to punish the ears as if in a small complaint for not listening sooner to the album. To play without passion is criminal, to offer art without ardor is a selfish act, thankfully Airport Impressions not only sound fantastic they glow with the perspiration that fury and zeal smile in abundance within the album.
Tracks such as the sublime Berlin, the album title track Mariette, Ballymena Sun, All We Got and Let It Shine reflect that ambition and crazed beauty and the sound of a thousand waves slamming against the walled city of Valetta during a surprise summer thunderstorm could not crash with more artful fervour.
When an album can capture your heart in the same way as a visual memory then you know it is there to be enjoyed and savoured. Mariette should be heard above the noise and glamour that emanates in some cases that comes out of the pores of the U.K. radio stations.
Ian D. Hall