Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
How much of life is ruled by nature and nurture, an age-old question to which there seems to be no defining answer, at least not one that ever satisfies those who seek to interrogate life with. However, whether it is nature or nurture that makes you act a certain way, sees you place your being in a direction that others might seem inappropriate or even not accepting their own view, what is surely not up for debate is the role that music plays in the foundation of your soul.
In The Little Unsaid’s six song E.P., Music/Nature, which was recorded during the band’s Atomise sessions, the exploration of the question is heralded with further demands, one that sees themes of hope and division take centre stage and be resolved with meaning; not definitive, not conclusive, but one steeped in the forge that shapes acceptance and the creation of a sturdier, tougher substance to which to hold proudly aloft.
It is to nature that we have lost our way with, but one that as John Elliott, the driving force behind the band, surveys the wreckage of our damning relationship with the self and with the wider world in which we inhabit, realises through the expansion of the themes that framed the Atomise album, we can, if we dare, put right.
Through the tracks Music, Nature, Floodlight, Solstice, Milltown and (A Sweet Kind Of) Hurt, the division, the split we feel between what we perceive and what is actually happening is taken to task, feelings of embracing a rebellion against all that attacks the soul, that punishes the doubts in the mind with the addition of fear, all is given a sense of musical calm, of reconciling desire with peace. A musical accomplishment which deserves full recognition.
A dramatic, reflective and sincere look at how we exist in our thoughts, how we can urge them to fight for us, how we can cherish the beast inside and develop it so that it understands empathy. Music/Nature, with nurture by their side should be one of complete understanding, one that The Little Unsaid proclaims proudly.
The Little Unsaid’s Music/Nature E.P. is available now from Reveal Records.
Ian D. Hall