Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Being able to wear a mask to hide one’s intentions is considered dishonourable; the element of mystery is heightened by hundreds of years of pop culture where the villain hides their identity so that they might rob and maim with impunity. From the legends surrounding highwaymen, through to the modern-day equivalent of plastic replicas of famous people covering the face when stealing from a bank, the mask is one that brings out a certain boldness of deceit and the air of the mystique.
A mask is one thing, to openly embrace the alter ego is quite another. The ability to truly open up, show the face to the world and yet use language which might offend but is based in absolute truth, is not, as some might believe a caricature but instead is the reality of what we see and understand and given freedom to be spoken at length in a loud, unhindered voice.
The alter ego allows us to say what we dare not for fear of ridicule and for some it a blessing revealed as the words are an insightful knife that cuts through the bluster, the polite etiquette and the narrow minded expressions offered by some as a mealy mouthed apology, the sense that the alter ego sees more, understands more, and in which Barry Dolan in his own doppelganger of Non Canon exemplifies with genius pouring out of every song and lyric in his new album, Non Canon II.
Across tracks such as Dark Force Rising and its bitterness and contempt for those who practise in the disease of bigotry, MMXIX, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the cutting beauty of A Teapot and an Open Mind, Never Say Never Again and the jaw dropping brilliance of The Cavalier Years, perhaps the only song in existence to reference Baldrick and Blackadder in a lyrical line and yet be sincere with its remarks, Non Canon II is a force of light in a world that loves to play games in the shadows.
Non Canon II is an album of resplendent gravitas, forged in the fire of a dragon, shaped by a master craftsman, given breath by a magician. A piece of honest art carved in the same fashion as you would expect from the great social observers of our time, but one that is deeply immersed in the idea of wistful beginnings. Absolutely superb!
Non Canon’s Non Canon II is out now and available from Xtra Mile Recordings.
Ian D. Hall