Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When Iain Till found himself back in the performance arena, not quite gladiatorial provisioned but still armed with a sense of hope, proportion and wielding a deck full of songs, he perhaps would not have expected to reach the point where the release of the E.P. was to be considered the norm. The climb is a hardy beast full of pitfalls and the descent, well that is only too carefully planned by hubris to really ever keep an eye upon. Such is fortune’s way of preparing for The Rise and the Fall.

The Rise and the Fall is a collection of songs that combine the gentleness of Mr. Till’s forthright observations and stipulation for intricate introspection coupled with the haunting tones of a guitar being played as if the mournful cry of dawn is heeded and joined in by the sombre beating heart of dusk as it heralds the gathering night in the wonderful Stephanie Kearley’s cello, viola and violin.

That haunted feeling, the anxious ghost that preys lovingly on the ears and which whispers, which sighs with pleasure as if a lost lover has just seen you looking dejected, bloodied and beaten at the bar, is stamped all over the four songs on offer by Iain Till. Haunted By You, The Rise and the Fall, A Step Away and Something are all emotional, they offer more than an insight into the fragility of the complex relationship between the day to day living and the one eye open night-time, the need for rest but the labour of pain in which solitude and privacy is urgently required. To give in to the isolation, to rest gracefully in Morpheus’s arms is an offering that cannot be fulfilled for images of past regrets urge you on to greater heights.

Iain Till has always more than entertained in his life performances, he captures the spirit of the event and plays alongside it with a heartbreaking smile, that same smile is there throughout The Rise and the Fall but it is an eerie one, one that revels in seeing something the listener can only dream of, not quite catching a glimpse of the spectre dominating the thoughts of the musician. Regardless of that, the E.P. is a triumph for Iain Till, a genuine piece of music in which the senses are finely tuned to the sensitivity offered.

Ian D. Hall