Nine Blind Ravens at Studio 2, Liverpool. Photograph by Maddie Stenberg.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The sound of a new set of heroes gathering in the dark is always a welcome echo of what is to come, the finding of a new band in which to hang your love upon, something in which nothing else can ever touch with perhaps the exception of that first electric kiss as a teenager.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10
The still of the night is such that the attraction of a solo acoustic guitarist will always sound beautiful, mournful and heart stopping no matter the situation they may find themselves in. Yet somehow the attraction is enhanced with the feeling of close August heat parading itself in the shower of loose dripping sweat and the build up of energy being worked up in readiness for the electric section of the evening.
Your wedding invitation came today,
virginal white paper, stencilled
black type and a date
to put in the grey diary
that seemed oddly familiar, a date
which we would forever share,
a date which I guess you might never find
in a society that not so long ago
was so stupid that it could not
celebrate love between two people,
for fear of what love might mean.
I knew of your love at University
and overjoyed I am as I read
your invitation, to share
….so here we sit in the gathering dark, the reveal is coming, the hero is played by you, shall we read on?
No one else can see you you know, you don’t exist to them, you are an empty space, the void in the background that they dismiss as easily as a walk to walk or a drive to the shops, however in the dimmed light, the blinds pulled almost across to the point where only the barest chink of light can make it through and the black-out curtains hide the deepest shadows in suspended grief, I see you, I can hear you breathe, you think you are silent, that as you sit there in the dark judging me, contemplating the best way in which to bring me over to your side, I hear your thoughts, whirring round like a Catherine Wheel, fizzing away, the whizzing along, racing round and round in circles…I hear them, each dark reflection, each deliberate opinion you wish to put upon me, I hear them and I reject them…just.
The moon, crater
crammed, swims into view
through the gap
in my beige curtains
and looks down upon me
with once innocent surprise,
yet I know that the man
in the moon is judging me,
that silently throughout
my forty five years
he has done nothing but give me
silent treatment, never encourage
or console when I am afraid;
it is cold and aloof
and creates shadows of
that are unfulfilled and hollow.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
If the listener were to find that they were lost in revere whilst listening to The Jigantics’ debut album Daisy Roots, then in the succumbing to love that they will ultimately find in the band’s new album, Seconds Out, they will be nowhere to be found. All maps pointing the way out of the musical maze will be taken from them at the widening gap of the start and any chance of discovering the single route that leads from point A to point B, locked away inside the melody, notes and lyrical genius and placed under a small rock somewhere in the middle of the maze.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
For as long as there is war there will be art made about it, regardless of the genre, the form or the artistic content, there will always the reflection of what the destruction force of war can do to the soul and to those caught in the cross fire. It is a genre explored with grace and style by The Last Scout and one that catches the lump in the back of your throat unawares and off guard, for Dust N Bone is a song that just knows where to hold you, where to push you off balance and when to catch you before you hit the ground.
There is no make-up that hides
the face beneath the skin,
my smiling expression,
sincere at least,
hides the sadness that I cannot
otherwise contain.
You can hide yours with all the eye
shadow you want, all the powder
and ruby red
lipstick coating the snarl, but
it will only ever be varnish
on the surface; underneath
you will always be vain and obnoxious.
Ian D. Hall 2016
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Momentum is unavoidable when a touch of compelling energy streaks across the night sky and burns with fire, rage and beauty. It is a moment to behold, perhaps in awe, certainly in inspiration and one that when remembered in the dead of night, like a fireball, a streak of the Cosmos hurtling towards the sun, is ablaze with glory and redemption.
It is in the thought of the night sky, the everlasting and the thrust of musical experience that Sari Schorr & The Engine Room become A Force of Nature within, that they radiate a staggering belief despite all the odds that were stacked against them is impressive and very cool.
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
It is the voice, the spoken word narrative that entwines itself between the songs on the More Like A River Than A Road mini album by Sheila K. Cameron, that brings out the sparkle in the recording. The pleasure of the songs is enormous but there is something about the spoken word employed to very decent effect by Ms. Cameron that suggests the music is only half the tale, that the grip on the attention of the listener is enhanced by the monologue that weaves like a stream through fields and pastures in the ceaseless search for the ocean.