Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The Slow Life is one of virtuous content, and one that we dismiss the offer of living to our detriment and to our downfall; for life may be one of continual excitement if we live it in the fast lane, only using our homes as a place to lay our heads, barely making a connection with anything that houses our memories, our thoughts scattered to the winds, our dreams uncontained because we have not taken the proper time and consideration to believe they can be allowed to roam and not tethered by societal demands.
Never let anyone decry the virtue of the slow and easy follow, for despite their false anger in their facial expressions, it boils down to jealousy that you have found a way to live and love that does not impact upon anything other than a soul in turmoil, nature, the way of the word and music remain undaunted, but the essence of the person who is filled with all that conquers but doesn’t love, they are the ones to benefit from an ambience of joy willing to sit beside them.
Whilst described as “Little south of Nashville”, Will Stewart’s new album, Slow Life, is one of unique and inspirational musical tales and one that insists on the fast lane, fast purchase, easy credit lifestyle to unwind, to see that their Time-consumed life is consuming them, eating them alive and with nothing to show for it all accept an expensive grave.
To embark on the slow life does not mean taking a back seat, it is the virtue of imploring to others that they can still be just as creative and passionate, just without burning out the heart and having it all in one lane that overtakes all others but still leads in the end to the mechanic’s bay or to the scrap heap.
Will Stewart’s imaginative and stoic music ledger is one where he has hit the gears of responsibility with care, and yet always maintained the safe distance between himself and other users of life’s highway, and Slow Life is no different, the detour, the side roads, all are there for exploring, and as Ross Parker, Tyler McGuire, Janet Simpson, and Daniel Raine all contribute to the atmospheric Folk and Rock drive, so tracks such as the album opener Bad Memory, New World Daydream, On The Edge Of A Brightness, You’re Not Fun Anymore, and Tragedy all bring the vision into focus; the proof that as long as you see the road and are comfortable at the wheel, then the Slow Life is just, if not more, enlightening, illuminating, purposeful.
A Slow Life is a happy experience, it allows you to observe with greater clarity those Hell bent on believing they are winning the race they have drawn only for themselves.
Ian D. Hall