Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

It is perhaps Humanity’s greatest failing that we see something or a race of people that we don’t understand and believe ourselves to better cultured and educated than they ever could be or arguably have the right to be. It is a systematic failing, a supreme moment of arrogance that belittles us all. It makes us feel superior when we don’t have the right, an uncivilised civility that shows its self arguably more in the world of art than any other.

Prejudice and arrogance stops us at times from enjoying another culture’s artistic endeavours, another nation’s tremendous feats when it comes to producing music, art, poetry, almost anything that captures the moment in a creative and long lasting way. When that culture though has much to offer, when it is such a vibrant, almost undiscovered, hybrid of exotic enlightenment, it can come as the biggest shock to the system to the unadventurous when they hear or see something that flickers colours into what could be seen as a grey existence.

For Malta’s Krave, Chris Scicluna and Moira Stafrace, their album Uncivilised is one that follows on with remarkable vigour from the nation’s other great groups and musical offerings. Uncivilised is that tremendous mix of pop with traditional undertones that seems to grab the visitor and the local’s attention well. Whilst having more of the popular edge to it, the album conjures up images of laying on the beach at Comino as the sun goes down over the Mediterranean,  of sitting in The Bar in Valetta and listening to the stories of passing strangers as they entertain each other with more outrageous tales and all told with good humour. It is the final pot of tea in a street side café in Silema before the thought of getting on boat the next day; if this is Uncivilised then perhaps we deserve more of it.

The album is awash with songs that get you humming along with a smile attached. It might not be in the same vein as bands such as Airport Impressions or the timeless pop beauty attached to Ira Losco but it is nevertheless a combination of songs that flow as easily as the way of life on the island.

Tracks such as Moonman, To Be With You, If Only, Beggin You and No Turning Back highlight the offered sensuality and sense of freedom that Chris Scicluna and Moira Stafrace seem to enjoy. Whether it is through either songwriter’s vocals, that sense of liberty reflects the independence that their country now enjoys whilst being a hub of European, British and African cultures, an exotic mix but one with a soul that’s as enjoyable to hear as anything coming out of the British pop scene.

The post Victorian hang-over that dominated far too many minds till way after World War Two was perhaps the greatest act of uncivil approaches ever fostered upon the British people. Listening to Uncivilised, only serves as reminder of that. Thankfully the beat is one that is as forging as we can only hope the rest of the world will eventually be.

Ian D. Hall