Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

We are in danger of losing a vital part of our humanity, what makes us special as a species; not just losing, but actively, with shame, almost insisting with every fibre in our being that Art of any shade serves no purpose to the human condition, that we cannot strive forward if we cling to the notion that we gain nothing from the world if we give it beauty, if we place emotion where absolute logic should be.

There is a place for logic, but the belief that Art is dead should be shredded and burned to ash, for without Art the world is nothing more than a barren place filled with memory and dirt, a sea of logic that has torn at every structure that was built with imagination, every natural landscape reduced to a forgotten scene in a child’s picture book, every dream dismissed as an outrage against the perfection that logic dictates.

Joseph Houck’s Blue Ridge Mountain Waterfalls is a realisation of such beauty captured by the human heart, a desire to place down in music that which he wishes to share in the hope that someone will understand the incredible view he witnesses, that he is captivated by; and as the five-strong E.P. takes root in the listener’s mind, the urgency of creativity is uppermost in the emotional release that follows.

The ability to relay a story in any form is a right we must continue to hold onto for dear life, but we must do so with caution and humility in our souls, we must find a way to emulate Joseph Houck as he searches for meaning, and frames it with certainty, as he reflects on the landmarks of life’s passing and constant renewal.

Whilst we may never see for ourselves the sincere beauty that the musician portrays earnestly, the tracks, including the jointly written song of Soldier’s Homecoming that is paired magically with Jeff Martin, are simplicity caught in a bottle of Time, are designed to inflame the hope that we will never surrender to pure logic, that we will retain our right to emotional desire, and as Sweet Mountain Air, To Hear Them Play, Wing-Clipped Dove, and the E.P. title track of Blue Ridge Mountain Waterfalls, play with the senses of hope and intrigue, of passion and curiosity, so the listener is transported to the pace where a dream has been sought and loved.

A marvellously written set of songs, one to which we surely must appreciate the human mind and soul for its ability to see beyond logic and be enamoured by the natural.

Ian D. Hall