Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Into each life the sense of the profound and delicate must not only fall, but be seen for exactly what they are, moments of seismic and unadulterated beauty. It is the rainbow seen through the downpour, the longed-for figure emerging through the gloom at the funeral to hold your hand and whisper that the road you are on will lead you to Avenues of plenty, that benefit and elegance of the soul being complete and ready for the song to be sung.

For Visions Of Albion, Daniel Ryan and Samantha Shields, the new single, Avenues, represents a continuation of the remarkable sound that they have dedicated themselves too, that they have evolved and perfected, but also it finds a way, perhaps for the first time for some, to dig even deeper into the soul of the listener and leave them with not only longing, but as with all songs that stand in such company, with a the feeling of immortality.

Avenues is that kind of song that not so long ago, a different time perhaps in terms of values, it would have been a moment of recognition of the power of the union of two incredible instruments, the majesty of the human voice and the charm and gentle nature of the guitar, and it would have been enormous. Time may have moved on, music is now viewed in an altered way, but this actually gives the pair a grander reveal, for now it is highlighted as pure, accessible to the mind and heart as one would expect, insist, on feeling the presence of love.

The listener is assured the undistorted view of Avenues in full bloom, a splendid detail of music at its most endearing and pure.

Ian D. Hall