Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10
Life sometimes echoes the finer points of baseball from a British or European perspective, nothing interesting for perhaps an entire innings and then suddenly from out of nowhere comes a curve ball of the highest order or the magnificence of a ball that sails out the stadium which brings up the notable achievement of beating Henry Aaron’s career home run total or joining Ty Cobb in the milestone of 300 home runs.
The same can be said of music at times, the luxury of the exceptional new comer making more inroads into the hearts of the tight lipped crowd than a plough stuck in the hazards of a ten foot snowdrift, is perilous and strewn with so many pitfalls that those who enter the fray believing that fame is assured, soon get the rudest awakening since Samson realised that Delilah was running her fingers through his extensive locks with too much glee.
For Lauren Housley though the music has been building, the right steps have been taken and the craft of music taken so seriously that the voice that rubs with intense fervour and a beauty of spirit that can only be described as verging on the gently gorgeous, is enough to add her album Sweet Surrender to the playlist of 2015 with sheer delight.
The point of surrender is not to feel any more pain, yet the sweetest of surrenders alludes to the knowledge that in relinquishing the songs, the art, the nucleus of a life that has been growing for so long, they will have a life of their own. It is this life that makes the laying down of arms for a while whilst the children of the creative genesis run full and with depth into the minds and hearts of those they get to meet.
As the opening song suggests, it is indeed Nice To See Ya’, the introductions taken care of, the whole album swings by and soon the friendship between appreciative audience and artist is forged.
With songs such as Face The World Alone, the sensual but brimming with under laying heat If You Were Mine, When Autumn Came, and the tremendous album closer of All You Need Is A Friend all leave such an impression that the ears continue tingling long after the ball has been struck out of the park and the fireworks herald a new star in the ranks.
Lauren Housley is the kind of performer for whom the fireworks were made for; a Sweet Surrender indeed.
Ian D. Hall