Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Necessity is the mother of invention…if that is the case, then what comes forth out of oppression, of the requirement to take stock of the world and create something which sits inside, and beyond, the realm of imposed isolation.
Perhaps it is the obligation to make sure your words, your vision and dreams live on if the situation becomes clear that the world might tumble into chaos, whether of human making, or of nature inducing, that it might move on without you having committed yourself to the future betterment of humanity; an obligation to show that you were here at this time and place.
The commitment is deep in us all, sometimes buried under the weight of other’s debt, often it is just waiting for a moment in which to surprise us all. What should not come as a revelation, but more of an expected received joy, is the release of Michael McGovern’s debut album, the superb and entangling enigmatic Highfield Suite.
If we have learned anything, hopefully, as a collective during the recent stressful times and world-shattering events, is that we owe ourselves the chance to continue being bold, to be extraordinary at every possible junction of our lives, and for Mr. McGovern such understanding of the situation and the belief that nothing can halt the progress of one human being in their obligation to add to the world a sense of creative colour, is resolutely held as each tracks fills the air.
With contributions from Bill Shanley, Andrew Holdsworth, Kevan O’Reilly, Conor Smith, James Steele, Jenny Kinane, Scarlett Randle, Jamie Sturt and Scott C. Park, tracks such as the opener, I’m Not Myself Today (Take Me Back), Munich, Sleep, Sleep, Sleeping, Isle of May and the magnificent I Hear Their Voices In The Attic are all captured with the chorus of beauty that all should aim for when the world is being ugly, when the knocks seems to much, there is only one way to fight back, to retaliate, and then is with love.
A wonderful debut, Michael McGovern captures the heart with recording, the songs are visionary, beautiful and refuse to be beaten down by the world; exactly the tonic that is needed.
Ian D. Hall