Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Time makes the thought of the empty nest syndrome easier to bear, it doesn’t make it any less painful, but like all moments of sadness, of loneliness and heartbreak, Time is, as they say, the great healer. It is the ritual that we perhaps all go through at some point if we are fortunate to have the Serious Child, the inquisitive, the brave, the loved, the demanding, the passionate of every creed, colour and belief in our hearts, the Empty Nest is not the end of all things, it is the beginning, and for the talent within Serious Child, Alan Young, Carla March and Steve Welch, it is a launch, an coolly framed active introduction, that sits wonderfully in the heart of the listener.

It can often be a bind to have such an album fall from the sky on the unsuspecting, the pressure for the band to go forth from that point and create something as marvellous, as intricate, and as interesting as Serious Child have produced with their debut, then the doors to uncertainty will always be open to attend.

Yet for Serious Child that question will arguably not come, such is the passion on display within the twelve songs on offer, the abiding fruitful observation of the past, the ceremony of ritual and the delicate pause between the conversation of the musicianship and the audience’s bated breath and anticipation.

It is in these moments that ritual is beautiful and in songs such as Time Keeps Rolling, I Don’t Remember Venice, the delightful Three Hail Marys, No Missed Calls and You wear That Smile, the trio and their accompanying musicians, the ever-impressive Boo Hewerdine, Tanya Brittain, Chris Pepper, Gustaf Ljunggren, the sensational John McCusker, Jamie Francis, Gary Bridle and Sarah Ozelle, all reflect this in a way the beautiful and imaginative will understand, and which those that are a danger to the nature of inquisitiveness will thankfully shirk and avoid, as we should always shun them.

Empty Nest is full of possibilities, of incredible persuasive potential that doesn’t just convince the listener to take heed and remark, it implores to hold on, the nest is on the move and it is more complete, deeper and bursting with ideas than the notion of being empty could display. This is an album absolutely stuffed to the brim with greatness.

Ian D. Hall