Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The latest release by Hertfordshire band Shadowlight, the superb sounding Twilight Canvas, carries on in the same excellent form that James Hodkinson and Mark Wilson showed in the exceptional E.P. Winter.

Where the band have improved, if that is indeed possible with Shadowlight, is the addition of extra personnel in the form of Ed Williamson-Brown and Paul Collins on bass and drums respectively, the album oozes a quality that rarely gets heard on a debut album but then the foundations of the band were sown long ago with the musical partnership of James and Mark. It is perhaps a shame for any new fan coming into the band on the back of the E.P. or this new album that there isn’t a catalogue to explore. However the sounds they create on this debut signals the start of something very extraordinary.

The unmistakable and almost effortless progressive grace they bring to the new album is framed neatly within the 10 songs on offer for the listener to revel in. It also has more than a familiar nod to the work of Genesis’ Steve Hackett, this is not just evident on the lead guitar soundscapes that James Hodkinson supplies but also in the almost ethereal like lyrics that haunt each song. Although the album reprises a couple of the songs that appeared on the E.P. this does not detract from the quality or enjoyment of songs such as Monochrome Dream, the thrilling Different Light, 3 a.m. forever and the outstanding Black Swan Song.

There is no better feeling than knowing a band have got something a little extra in their arsenal to give on the first full album, it bodes well for the future. It certainly seems that the foundations of the band that were sown so many years back between the Merseyside raised James Hodkinson and the Canterbury born Mark Wilson have now produced progressive fruit .

Shadowlight deserve their time in the sun, Twilight Canvas should certainly be seen as a fantastic start to what should be a great musical career.

Ian D. Hall