Belinda O’ Hooley, Inversions. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Defiance can be viewed as a state of grace in a world that still, for the main, objects to non-conformity, the ability to be other than what a portion of society demands, craves as if hooked on an ideal that does not make sense, that is beyond any reason in today’s society. It is almost as we have clung on to the insanity that pervades the dogmatic Victorian era, a timespan etched into the annals of history, but which was truly a patriarchy hiding in plain sight of imagined petticoats and stern sour-faced mourning.

Belinda O’ Hooley, Inversions. Album Review. full post

(431 words, estimated 1:43 mins reading time)

Sunjay, Devil Came Calling. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

When the Devil Came Calling is when perhaps you should have paid more attention. For some the celestial siren plea is not enough to bring on the sweat of inspiration, it takes a deeper growl in which to stir the human body to find the place where their perception of artistry is at its most beautiful, scintillating and achingly sublime. For Robert Johnson it was the apparent meeting on a crossroads, for many an artist it is perhaps a reflection of what the muse can lead them to in terms of obsession, of the darker side of their personality; sometimes we need to listen to the voice that offers a moment of explosive excellence in return for a little piece of our soul.

Sunjay, Devil Came Calling. Album Review. full post

(403 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

Slowness, Berths. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The release is slow, dreamlike, a vision that unfolds via the slightest of twists to the barrel of the kaleidoscope, the pattern emerging, disappearing, reforming with an innovative subtly. To find such an arrangement is always possible in art, but to come across it, to find the beauty in the female harmony as each note drips with the sentiment of colour, of a psychedelic waterfall crashing onto the rocks below and splintering rainbows decorating the remains, that is the revelation which makes the purpose of life one of a vast array of possibilities which must be grasped.

Slowness, Berths. Album Review. full post

(405 words, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

X Men: Dark Phoenix. Film Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * *

Cast: Sophie Turner, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult, Evan Peters, Alexandra Shipp, Tye Sheridan, Jodi Smit-McPhee, Kota Eberhardt, Andrew Stehlin, Scott Shepherd.

A final offering, one that should have the audience gripped, almost putty like in the hands of the producers, the directors and actors alike, after all an audience will have been waiting for this moment for a period of years, their hopes always on the verge of bursting – then the realisation sets in, the climax that you want is not what the franchise could have been, in that moment the highs and excitement that you once felt, the love and care that you showed, is gone, has departed quicker than an express train hurtling through your local station as you casually ignore the warning about standing close to the yellow line.

X Men: Dark Phoenix. Film Review. full post

(457 words, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

We Melt Chocolate. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The language of romance, it is ultimately one that can send a shiver down the spine and a thrill through the heart is conducted with passion and mystery.

The feeling of being swept of your feet, or even teased like the light touch of a wicked bow on a taut string, is forever hanging in the air and like the operatic gala to which Florence once gave the world, so too does the silver tongued refrain in which the art of the shoe-gazing genre plough its love into the hearts of those who listen intently to the sound provided by a band that can justify pronounce that We Melt Chocolate, and the those who see temptation in this act are not wrong, for the Florence-based band We Melt Chocolate speak the language of enigmatic love.

We Melt Chocolate. Album Review. full post

(363 words, 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Lauren Anderson, I Won’t Stay Down. E.P. Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The empty promise is one that is hard to shake off. The desire in the hero of the story is often tempered by those around them who refuse to see their worth, or worse use them for their own advantage, reneging on assurances, pledges of fidelity scattered to the winds, it can become a dispiriting affair, a knock on effect that falls like dominos, but each one when turned face up revealing the double blank expression that leads ultimately to a dead-end.

Lauren Anderson, I Won’t Stay Down. E.P. Review. full post

(411 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

The Divine Comedy, Gig Review. HMV, Arndale Centre, Manchester.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

The temptation of an early afternoon gig is normally the preserve of the festival attendee, the chance to partake in a set of music surrounded by like-minded people as they savour the freedom of the setting and all the attraction of living life in pursuit of happiness rather than the drudgery of a day concerned with the nine to five and the complicated demands of the office and its politics.

The Divine Comedy, Gig Review. HMV, Arndale Centre, Manchester. full post

(517 words, estimated 2:04 mins reading time)

Gov’t Mule, Bring On The Music- Live At The Capitol Theatre. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Recorded over two special nights in April 2018, titans of the genre Gov’t Mule took to stage of New York’s Port Chester and proceeded to give what can only arguably be described as one of the most perfectly driven live performances captured; not for nothing do they Bring On The Music but they also extol the virtue of persistence, of  the resolve to not play the game that the Government asks of all. Blind obedience is a terror, to be free is be the real you, on stage or travelling from city to city, bar to bar, all you can do is put a quarter in the machine and tell the suits and the suspicious minded to Bring On The Music and dance to your tune.

Gov’t Mule, Bring On The Music- Live At The Capitol Theatre. Album Review. full post

(511 words, estimated 2:03 mins reading time)

Valley Queen, Supergiant. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The Universe may look tranquil, a perfect heartbeat capturing the pulse of the celestial band as they play for the fortunes of the mortals and creatures that scurry underneath stars and distant shadows; but there is always that beast that comes out of nowhere, the truth that is ready to be revealed in the form of a Supergiant, the object that takes up all of your vision and which is both to be feared and marvelled at in equal, stunning measure.

Valley Queen, Supergiant. Album Review. full post

(412 words, 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

Jude Adams, The Window To My Soul. Album Review.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The eye is the window in which we look into when we wish to see into someone’s soul, or so some would insist on being the only mantra worth following, however perhaps it is not that clear, not that obvious, perhaps it comes down to the voice, the sound which we make when all is well, the concern others take notice of when the world is not at peace with our presence; the eye in the end can be made to look glamorous when all around is fading out of the light , the voice though, even when it has little to say, can still sing of harmony and be a beacon to others that your soul is overflowing.

Jude Adams, The Window To My Soul. Album Review. full post

(446 words, estimated 1:47 mins reading time)