Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is one of the age old questions that has bogged humanity, it is a question that has resonated and perhaps never bettered as when Hamlet procrastinated with the musing, “To be or not to be.” For the modern day equivalent, the 21st subtle arrangement of this paused thought is captured very well by North of the Mind’s new single If Not For You and its ever hanging question contained within its beautifully imagined lyrics, What’s a man to do?
North of the Mind’s Gary Kitchen could arguably be tapping into that old sage question, often seen as procrastination but more perhaps the argument that rages in every mind when cornered by two conflicting strains of conscious. It is after all better to think it through than try to rationalise with the blinkered fists first thought that leads to more trouble than is worth.
Written by Gary Kitchen, who also provides the rhythm guitar, and with Jon Lawton supplying a tasty backdrop to the established lyrical muse with lead guitar, If Not For You captures the emotion of hanging back, of asking the pertinent question of anybody who has shaped your life but not really being able to explain how you feel about it in an easy fashion.
The slow intro of the piano harbours much deliberation but as in the rushed thought of a man obsessed by searching for an answer, the booming of a guitar comes crashing into view and the wild connecting thoughts are spread in many different directions. They all come together, culminating, all trying to frame exactly what a man is meant to do, an impossible question when the head is already full of mischief, a question that North of the Mind aspire to answer.
Dynamic, full of the inquiring mind, North of the Mind’s latest single is not just well produced and well versed but pertinent and significant, a question that continues to haunt humanity’s deepest fears and bought to the surface with great musical accomplishment.
Ian D. Hall