Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is a tendency to forget that song writing, is in effect poetry in motion, it is a building block, a foundation of description, a release of the inner most feelings, and no matter the style, no matter the voice, the poetry, and by virtue of its delivery, stand out as perhaps one of the most expressive forms of heroics we can muster about ourselves; for in that moment of reveal we are exposing our naked soul, we are allowing the relief of humanity to carry us onwards.
We urge strangers to accept they have a talent, never realising that we are more than just a single trick pony ourselves, then given the right encouragement, the circumstances in which our soul transmits the belief around us, we can achieve more than just poetry, we can bring music into the world, we can lay the tunes down of a kind of immortality that we ourselves instigated.
It is in the despatches that we are surprised just how others see that sense of heroism, to be more than just a standby in the story of our life, and it is in Despatches that the listener finds Louis de Bernières, the writer behind Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Birds Without Wings and the short story collection of Notwithstanding is also one who refuses to stand in his own shadow, and as the double album opens up, as tracks such as Cinderella, Prince Charming & Me, The Romance of Margarita, Foxes In The Park, London Town, Stab in the Entrails (Delicate Lies), Don’t Go Out of the Door and Olives, Wine and Bread capture the ear, what the listener is exposed to is the proof of how we can slay the indecision of doubt and suspicion of our own undiscovered talent, and embrace whatever artform we put our mind to.
For in Despatches we are only praised for our heroism in the act of going above and beyond, it is never a place in which our peers can sneer or pour scorn from their disparaging height. Louis de Bernières is a leader in such revolutions of the soul, the expertise he brings to his novel writing is captured in a sense of glory in the songs that make up this widely expressive and intriguing album, his own mention in despatches will fill volumes; he only asks that the listener seizes the opportunity to do the same.
Louis de Bernières releases Despatches on 12th November via Khaki Angel Records.
Ian D. Hall