Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Life at times can feel like the worst of imprisonments, the sense that the way out of the situation in which you find yourself is only hindered by the imaginary rope you tie yourself to the chain with or the open doorway that is just a foot out of reach; life ties us down and only art, love and memory can free us from its tyrannical grip.
The bottling up of emotions, the despair when the act of freedom is just that extra inch out of reach, the Oubliette is the prison of no escape and yet for Liverpool’s The Drifting Classroom it is one with the gift of song writing attached to it as if from out of nowhere a ladder to safety and the taste of fresh air is on offer.
The prison, whether in the mind or in the truth of the Universe, is one that is not easily shaken off, that is not easily as cast aside as a friendship born of frustration and damning circumstance, it is one that only releases the incarcerated when they are ready to breathe in the air and at first fumble, then gain strength from the situation they are in. The mind though, the dark thoughts, the enlightened sensibilities that come raging through are such that eventually the individual or the group will make something happen; the ladder may not appear but the thought of digging lower and deeper into the psyche is one that is surely enticing and lyrically engaging.
The Drifting Classroom learn that lesson well and in Oubliette they seize upon the mindset of working with a clear goal in sight and law down the musical explosives that shatter the prison and offer a rather marvellous set of tracks that are reflective and spiritual but also steady and completely cool.
Marc Sunderland, Richard Jones, Allan Falcon, Max Barker and Simon Morgan bring tracks such as Perfect Mirror, Come Into My World, Japanese Film, Bloodlines and Jane into the world as fresh as the first mowed grass of summer and make what could be considered a long wait to the ultimate day of release, seem as though the foundations and escape route were laid out long before.
An album of reflection, of desire and honesty, Oubliette is yet another credit in the ledger of music from the city by the Mersey.
The Drifting Classroom will be performing at The Zanzibar in Liverpool on Friday 19th August.
Ian D. Hall