Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are some bands that just typify a new way of thinking by recognising and acknowledging the past. The sound they create and bring together is the special blend that others strive for but quite often gets lost in a murky and heady fog of ideas. For Joe Symes and The Loving Kind, the amalgam of 21st Century life in their home city of Liverpool and the consideration of what made the city stand out as the musical powerhouse of the country go hand in hand on their exciting and astonishing self-titled debut album.
The compositions that the five musicians have put down for the album are quite simply stunning and further enhances 2013 as one of the most fabulous and stimulating years for music from Liverpool. With Joe Symes at the helm and writing the songs in such an accomplished way; the band, so young in their career, so forthright in their stance, can do nothing but enhance further the soundscapes and riveting words. Whether it is on tracks such as the superb Fallen Down, the heartening and enjoyable Ready To Ride, Lovers Undercover, Love Is The Reason or the phenomenal sounding A World Out Your Window, what comes across throughout is a group that is comfortable in its dynamic, its shared love of the history of the city’s music but also putting their own indelible stamp on the future.
With Colin White proving beyond doubt that his drum technique can fit almost every occasion and sound as if the instrument is treated, perhaps even feted as a god-like idol, the superb Dave Skilling having the time of his life on keyboards and Paul Hetherington and Chris Giblin showing exactly why they were brought into the band by adding the subtle strength to the lead and bass guitar, Joe Symes and The Loving Kind are not just a force of nature for the present but they capture the essence of the past, the undiluted quality of the music that never once left but got so routinely ignored by others.
In the last few years the abundance of music that has come out of Liverpool has been startling and bordering on the exquisite but when it is presented in the fashion that with the additional great contributions from the likes of Sophie Anderson and Ed who frames the spirit of trombone playing perfectly, then this is an album that in time will be still enjoyed, not only for its great musical spirit but also for the way it brings the decades of sound that made Liverpool great, together.
Ian D. Hall