Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In a city that is overflowing with positive music and artistic vibes, one that encompasses nearly every genre imaginable and one that seems to buck the national trend in terms of venues and theatres that remain thankfully open compared to a lot of places within the U.K. it can be hard to get your voice heard. No matter what though Liverpool endeavours it’s absolute best to make sure the voices, the plays, the music gets played and heard.

That undertaking, the unspoken and unsigned but very real contract between the city and its youth, is what drives the younger bands to emulate the past, whether it is 50 years ago with the Beatles or 25 years ago with the Icicle Works, Echo and The Bunnymen or China Crisis and it is the effect that Liverpool’s Arc Light have managed to produce with their superbly written and grinding rock album, the eponymous self titled album.

Following in the footsteps of some great young bands that have caused a stir in the city the last few years, Arc Light take the formula of wonderful optimistic youth, great lyrics that blast out and ripple across the ocean as if caught in a tidal wave and joined with some intense and yet wonderfully gentle guitar playing that feeds directly into the soul. Songs such as Conspiracy (Safe With Me), One Of Them, Just A Slave and Simple Rule all catch the attention and make Arc Light’s debut album a excellent piece of rock music and a shining example of what can be achieved if you and others have faith in your ability.

Of course not everybody makes it, the corporate world the way it is, not everybody can ever sit on the shoulders of giants and view the world from giddy heights but even if there is a chance, then people should be encouraged as much as possible and if their sound is as good as Arc Light’s and it brings pleasure to as many as possible then there is more than a possibility that the future of music is always assured and not just be seen as a privilege.

Ian D. Hall