Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
We have forgotten a prime instruction in life, to tread softly upon this Earth. Not only the ground beneath our feet, but the hearts of potential loves we have come to insist on hitting the soul of another to leave a bruise, when all we truly need is to leave a good impression; and our environment we have come like chaos to damn it, to make it quake in the shadows as we peel away every layer of reason that gives us hope, that allows us the belief to be more than savage.
To forget is to accept the consequences of our actions, and whilst we might decry them, that not enough warning was afforded us when making the decisions that shape the road we travel upon, some become lessons in how to appreciate all that we have, they are instructions that have held our attention, and normally because the teacher is either life itself, or a person we hold in high esteem.
Consequences, the realm of the positive affirmation to which we seek, and one in which the glorious tones of Edinburgh based Kim Edgar reaches out to her audience with as her latest album, one of collaboration and force, shines a deep and abiding light upon.
In an album that utilises the force of musical wealth and talent such as Boo Hewerdine, Louis Abbott, James Grant, Rachel Sermanni, and Ron Sexsmith, Kim Edgar, in her fifth studio album, marks out with demonstrative upbeat fascination how human behaviour is its own logical grave marker, that the consequences of the impact in social, personal, and environmental is beyond what at times the Earth can cope with, beyond what the human heart can endure.
Consequences is in effect a serenade of value, of the penalties we create for ourselves and the reward for listening, taking note, and acting upon the information, and as tracks such as Save Myself (Run Away), The Edge Of Shame, Fifty To One, It Only Takes A Silence, Ripples, and Whisper Pink all swirl in effect and waves of magnitude, so to does the gratitude of the meaning become apparent, that this is a feast of beauty presented with insight, of feeling, and the recognition that we are all guilty, all accountable for the damage done; and by doing so we can right the wrongs committed.
An outstanding release by a sensational musician, one of thought and daring, one that bleeds emotion, and is unafraid, unashamed, to do so.
Ian D. Hall