Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
We either lash out unthinkingly when we are confronted with pressure that upsets our being, our equilibrium, or we take a step back, we allow what has played out before us to be filtered, to be challenged internally before making what we believe to be action based on rational and intellectual judgement. It depends on the provocation, it changes from confrontation to confrontation, from conflict, row and quarrel, and what is often In Front Of Us is not the same as what we have passed on the way.
Nashville based singer-songwriter Ali Sperry has, like the rest of us, lived through that space between society’s sanity and reckless abandonment of logic, sincerity, and truth, and it is her latest album, In Front Of Us, that the dogma of immediate opposition is allowed to breathe and be digested, and like all decent human beings, the dissipating of ego is paramount to achieving inner peace, of allowing us to change and reconcile our minds to a truth with greater reliability and passion.
What is in front of the listener is one of persuasion, calm, beautiful, engaging peace, and whilst the songs reflect a possible turmoil, the clash sought by others as they alternate their view to fit their switchable belief, so Ms. Sperry counters with an even greater display of unity, of acceptance.
Across tracks such as Lucy, I Know You Are Scared, Hope, Excuses, the excellent Cool Under Pressure, Peace By Moonlight, and the album title track, In Front Of Us, Ali Sperry puts the doubt, fears, and faded scepticism of others on the cooling tray, lifts the lid on their expressions, and sees them turn to nothing more than steam; for what the artist has achieved in this particular album is one of conviction, each song releasing the listener from a sentence they didn’t know they had subjected upon themselves.
An album of symbolic principle, song with an edge, but delivered calmly, with quality, and with faith in the listener’s soul to see past others who damn and shatter the peace of thinking all possible scenarios through. What is In Front Of Us is captivating and drives certainty that we can take a step back to move two steps forward.
Ali Sperry releases In Front Of Us on March 11th.
Ian D. Hall