Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
There is only one thing in our life that is remembered more than an enduring love, and that is the break up that came before it, the moment when your heart and soul is crushed under the weight of the delusion that you have suffered that one person could have been the one, and little regard they felt for your state of mind as they leave you in pieces; the Separations of spirit are not just the acceptance of the bleak, but the catalyst to be better as you reflect on all that took place.
To capture the various issues of separation, whether in the form of the romantic nature, those dictated by distance and time, or even by the sadness of death, is a theme that is often caught well by the poets and the songwriters. Equally as dominant in the mind as the gesture of love, the only difference being is that is loss the words can hold a variety of meanings, and most are fused by the notion carried by the Welsh Bard as he urges to never speak softly in the dying of the light.
To do so though is an acknowledgement of the moments that meant the pain was real, you cannot have either without each other, there is no pain if that which was in your life meant nothing at all; and so that must mean even in care we must occasionally speak with kindness, with a soft voice demonstrating the purity of our thoughts, and in Colin Macduff’s wonderfully passionate, but softly spoken tones, Separations is an encounter with the rare, an artist who feels the torture of the moment but knows they must be kind in the detail of the loss.
The exploration of tone and spirit is one that glorifies the heart strings of the listener as they are placed in the scenarios and the measure to how the reaction might be deemed appropriate, an the result is one that is poetic and meaningful, a crowded room hushed by the sincerity of the person as they confess their emotional state and mental wellness as they prepare to embark on the journey after the goodbye and the departure.
Across tracks such as Rachel’s Room, The Shadows Of Summer, the finery of The Man In This Face, Floor, and the heartfelt parting suffered in The Road I Took With You, Colin Macduff’s interpretation of all that be in the name of the farewell is produced with calm, peace, and yet underneath it is a torrent of fear, upset, range, and emotional turmoil that the listener must appreciate in full as they are moved to a point of inner recognition.
A wonderfully adept second album by Mr. Macduff, one that leads by example.
Ian D. Hall