Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

There can be no messing round when being avant-garde, it either works so well that it becomes a fashion all of its own or it leaves people so stumped that it can leave those taking part as the audience cold and bored. Thankfully boredom is not an option and not on the agenda when it comes to I Am Just A Man With A St. Tropez Tan.

The feeling of a fractured nature, of discordant and disturbed nightmare thoughts, of the utter nihilist approach parade proudly through I Am A Man With A St. Tropez Tan, also known as photographer, journalist and writer Rick Senley and his new album Just A Ghost. Over the course of the album, Rick Senley takes the listener through a nightmare world in which the musical backdrop of The Cure are coupled with what seems to be end of a civilisation that is decaying all around us all.

The clatter of what could be at first thought a random incompatible experimental soundscapes, phrases that seem out of place in spirit as well as in time soon fuse together to make an interesting piece of work even if after several repeated plays you are still none the wiser of what it is that is drawing you to keep listening. Like a cipher, a puzzle that has been dormant for years and which archaeologists argue over the exact meaning, for anyone who studies art in any of its rich and varied forms, there is enough to like on the album to keep artistic juices flowing and ample enough flowing oblivion to keep analytical types pouring over its meaning for hours.

From the conversational opener of a man telling the audience that in France it’s illegal to name a pig Napoleon, the crispness of girl gangs fighting in Southend, the ethereal quality of the title track or the rapid sharpening of knives set against the echoing of distant music, it is an album that is full, certainly artistic and one that is best played through headphones tied so tight to the ears in the hope that you hear everything Rick Senley has imagined.

There can be no argument that the album will take a lot of getting used to, utterly bonkers in part, thrilling and sincere in others but overall Just A Ghost is an album to dig through your own inner psyche with, just be prepared to accept what you might find lurking there.

Ian D. Hall