Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

You can see why some people suggest that the Arts has no place in society, that the individual has no place in society and that the only way forward is for everybody to like the same things and they do it with a sneer and a calculated business-like mind…they are of course deluded, the cruel twist of nature that has taken them from seeing somebody’s worth by the art they create and instead only seeing what can be gained in monetary value.

Thankfully balance is restored when listening to somebody unique such as Jay C. Roberts and his sublime way of looking at life with his Forthaven title and his latest collaboration with Emma Rose, Darkness.

Darkness can lead a soul down a path that can be bitter tasting, it can play on the mind and make the imagination see things that aren’t there, it can also bring together the imaginations greatest ally, one of stunning production, of notes and words placed together in such a way that it gives an insight into the human condition, the beauty and the doubt, the light that sparkles fully, a firework continually going off against the shadow of the moon, Darkness that is welcome and required.

With three tracks available on the E.P. there is time for Emma Rose’s shrewdly delivered vocals to work their way under the skin and to play with Jay C. Roberts’ musical knowledge to the point of graphic realization, of a hierarchy that might be missed due to the feeling of shade that comes floating through the ether. This though is not obscure, no sentiment of insignificance, for that is not Forthaven’s style, what it is is an offering, a chance to see through the wood and actually see a tree and its crowning glory. The tracks, Darkness, Sycamore Tree and Tribe all play with the hidden idea of isolation, of a remoteness that canters along with cool approachability.

These are very good tracks that need to be truly heard, that require the sense of hearing to truly take part for else all is lost and neither participant deserves that.

Darkness is usually avoided, on this evidence it needs to embraced.

Ian D. Hall