Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are the creatures that howl when they are cornered, when they are pushed against the wall with the intention of directed pain, and there is the silent stare of beauty and appreciation which when the pressure becomes too much, too hot, too raw, results in a sudden explosion of noise that creates monumental electricity and a storm that releases The Beast and which the beauty cannot help but admire.
We expect the howl from the timid, we perhaps feel sympathy for the creature displaying it, but the roar, that deep growl which shudders the system, creates unexpected havoc in the senses of those listening, that is just the best, the moment of satisfaction and in which we empathise, we wish to join in with. We understand that this is moment of frustration and ecstasy merged and discharging into the ether and the night sky, the desire of the tornado in human form.
The Shropshire lad, but for many years a staple, part of the fabric of Liverpool’s sound and expression, Thom Morecroft, has once more not only created a piece of art that digs deep into the bones and leaves the listener wide eyed with pleasure, but has found a way to combine the beauty and the proverbial beats of expression in one full movement, like a kettle that boils without concern until the last moment, the steam of humanity converges in pain, in suffering, in a torture driven by love and passion.
No matter which way you take this new single, the lyrics being driven home with certainty, there is room for The Beast to prowl in freedom, and the build up to that one moment is arguably the purest, most untainted form of poetic wonder, a howl from wolf silhouetted against the reflection of the moon could not signal with any more confidence or conviction; and it is in this release that faith in human nature of the assurance of our time that we must resort to this primal scream when the damage against us is too great, that makes Thom Morecroft’s new single one of sheer and blissful joy.
Stunning, brutal, beautiful, Thom Morecroft seizes pain and refashions it perfectly as desire.
Ian D. Hall