Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

In Chevasse Park in Liverpool One, the first hopeful sounds of a Winter many will dread overpowers the senses, the heady aroma of Christmas is clinging in the air. The sound of children being treated by their parents to try their luck in the hope of winning an overstuffed bear or the thrill of a ride being undertaken with much glee follows suit and a cold November evening feels as biting and as forced as commemorating the end of the First World War with a supermarket advert for chocolate.

However, just off the main park and inside the ever glowing warmth of Palm Sugar, the frostiness towards the time of year mellowed and affection for three young talents that Liverpool has nurtured in recent times bounded across the cold frozen entrance and firmly welcomed the darkening evening.

For Niamh Jones, Dominic Dunn and Shannen Bamford, this was a night in which to celebrate all that is good in the latest stirrings of youth inspired music that the city and its area is capable of producing. The city may have taken a battering of late recently, certainly in some eyes the very idea of reducing a much loved gig venue to nothing more than yet another round of student homes and so called trendy bars and restaurants is enough to make you choke back on the tears of those who cannot even afford to feed themselves properly in these distasteful times.

Thankfully for a couple of hours the people who run Palm Sugar and Live Lounge, owned by the unconquerable Karen Podesta and Gemma Aldcroft of Little Atoms hold sway and turn back the tide of crass commercialism and showcase three musicians of such calibre that the heart melts and all that is left is enjoyment and a thought of sticking your tongue out against the noise and demons.

With the festive season upon us, perhaps it was with the idea of offering an early seasonal warmer that saw Niamh Jones, Dominic Dunn and Shannen Bamford play songs such as Ride Fast, Tug Of War, the superb cover of Labi Siffre’s It Must Be Love, for which Niamh Jones can bring a lump to throat with, I’m On My Way, Back To You, Away (Dominic Dunn), Teenage Dream by Katy Perry, Talk Tonight by Noel Gallagher and Dolly Parton’s Jolene (Shannen Bamford)with great effect and emotion in the timbre of their voices.

Evenings come and go like a Mayfly struggling with the concept of using up its time productively but some evenings are bound to provoke more thought and comfort in their heart than others, for anyone avoiding the sound a false cheer, what better way that surrounding yourself with real joy and in Niamh Jones, Dominic Dunn and Shannen Bamford, joy is supplied by the bucket full.

Ian D. Hall