Paul Straws at The Bluecoat, August 2014. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

If Jo Bywater’s set for Above the Beaten Track Festival inside the Bluecoat could be seen as a personal revolution then Paul Straws evening appearance should be seen as the start of pleasing and game changing mutiny.

The highly respected musician has such a big following and his work with other musicians in which his lyric writing is enhanced, took a surprising and incredibly welcome turn as his songs were aided for the first time by the use of a loop pedal which surely took hold of the soul of all who watched him on the outside stage of the Bluecoat. His performance  gave them reason to believe that if revolution can be viewed as a sincere construct, then mutiny is the catalyst in which personal uprisings are to be savoured.

In the heart of the purist the loop pedal could be seen as an instrument of punishment, for them it only serves notice that music has been taken out of the hand of the musician and placed squarely into the administrating fingers of the electrician and science whizz and in horror of horrors the same screaming headlines that declared Bob Dylan a Judas, a sell-out point a gnarled bony finger of hate at anyone trying something new in their set.

Utter nonsense is the only rallying call in which to defend the mind which is open to new ways of expression for what Paul Straws did at the Bluecoat was to take the opportunity in which to blow a few minds.

Although the big band experience an audience gets when listening to Paul Straws is one of the great joys of living in Liverpool, the visual delight in which the commander of the bow Vicky Mutch blows heat onto the strings of her cello or in which Andy Kettle plays keyboards like a conductor leading a top notch orchestra a part of the fabric of the city of culture, to see experimentation, a progressive mutiny underway was one in which delight turned to satisfaction.

Paul Straws’ set was enhanced by this approach, and whilst you would never want to lose sight of the overall experience of trained and passionate musicians on stage, to hear songs such as Always Got A Home, I Need You There, Somedays and One Track Mind played with this electronic addition, of a set of lyrics enhanced by one enjoying the moment was one in which if a jaw dropped anywhere then the desired effect was worth it.

To watch Paul Straws on stage, to listen to him sing is something that if you can you clear a diary for, this new approach is one that you need to find a bigger diary for, for to write about it will fill up more pages than a week to view diary will allow.

Paul Straws will be supporting The Mono LPs at Leaf on Bold Street, Liverpool on September 17th. Tickets are available from wegottickets.com/liverpoolacoustic.

Ian D. Hall