Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
A wordsmith never confines themselves to the sorrows of the sentence, especially when there is joy to be explored in a paragraph, when the page opens up before them and reveals undaunted freedom; it is the same for all who are adorned with the cynical eye of belief in art and the ability to convey meaning with a poetic heart.
Michael McDermott is one such artist to whom the words have always been the high drama and consistency of one might perhaps look at the works of a Renaissance sculptor, of the authenticity of the Realism movement rather than ever looking up from the low born stance of the hopeless romantic, and in his latest album Flowers From The Graveyard that undiluted observation is planted and blossoms with the sense of the finite and the questioning heart of someone examining the picture of humanity and adoring the flaws within.
From the opening bars of The Best We Get and Always A Ways Away, the musician pushes with fierce determination to have the listener understand the depth of his soul to be irreplaceable, a controlled freedom of expression, a sculpted outlook carried by Time and the outstanding contribution he has made.
With songs such as the excellent Nobody, the loss to be found heartbreakingly in Johnny Sparrow And The Sunset Girl, The Lords Of Lincoln Park, and the bittersweet natural tendency to be unearthed in the album’s title track Flowers From The Graveyard and the finale of Ain’t Life Beautiful, the overwhelming positivity of the self-penned songs portray a master at work and comfortable with the way he has witnessed Time through the medium of movement within the heartbeat of all around him.
Urgent without hurrying, distinguished without being overbearing on the senses, charming without breaking your heart, this is the beauty to be found within the man and the creation, Flowers From The Graveyard is the offering to all who seek more than just a headline, the snappy one liner, this is a volume of originality inspired by vision and a truth found.
Michael McDermott releases Flowers From The Graveyard on August 21st via Pauper Sky Records.
Ian D. Hall