Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Worried About Thomas McConnell? On the evidence of his E.P., you really shouldn’t be as the young man with verve, style and the sweetness of attitude has produced four songs that typify the resilience of the young talented artists, musicians and people in everyday life to make their voice heard.

Perhaps a more suitable title, from the listener’s point of view, would be delighted, proud or even gratified about Thomas McConnell. For the sound that comes over in his E.P. is just him, there is nothing hiding away in the background, no backing of any type and throughout it all the four songs hammer home the idea that if someone has got talent brewing in them, if there is any significant flair in which that art can exist and not be stifled, then nurture it, let it flow because as has been proved so much since the turn of the century, there is a voice out there and it needs to be heard.

From the outrageously good Blame it on Rebecca, the wonderfully observed Penelope Definitely and the finishing excellence of Just a little bit Jill, Thomas McConnell sings and plays like a man possessed as if by some spirit of the past, a presence that wanders the streets of Liverpool and finds it home in all those with a tale to tell and the effect is tantalising.

Like anything that touches your soul, a first kiss, the experience of seeing a powerful and thought provoking play or being somewhere when history is being made, a moment in which catches the listener unawares is always to be cheered and relished and within the tracks on the E.P. is such a moment. Reminiscent of the power of the words in Ian Prowse’s/Amsterdam’s epic Does This Train Stop on Merseyside, Thomas McConnell’s own genuinely touching lyrics on the track John are more than enough to make the unaware listener that there is the chance of a tear or two being shed.    

Whether it is the continuing inspiration that the city feeds its artists or simply that the talent in Liverpool is of epidemic proportions, it is impossible to argue or dismiss Worried About Thomas McConnell as a piece of recording history, in fact it would be better to applaud Thomas for an E.P. that not only captures a feeling but also given the right circumstance help you shed a tear or two.

Ian D. Hall