Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7.5/10

Everyone has a story to tell, to impart perhaps for the betterment or understanding of humanity’s place in the world and the ways that even the softest voice can change someone’s idea of what it means to achieve something extraordinary.

July may have ended on a bigger whimper than a child being offered a milkshake, fries and a juicy burger if it kept quiet all day, only to find that the parents had actually meant boiled cabbage and carrot water but in terms of young local bands finding their first steps into the creative, sometimes harsh but always nurturing, aspect of Liverpool music, July had been a God-send and as the month breathed its last The Zanzibar Club gave one more surprise in the collaboration series as The Also Known As played with minimum fuss and cool stance upon their stage.

The lads that make up The Also Known As, young, fresh, sublime and wonderfully creative, may have been missing members on the day, such is the want of the last minute impromptu gig, but that shouldn’t detract from what was effectively a generous outpouring of beautiful sounding music and the opportunity to have a voice in the darkness heard.

For a band that has only played a handful of gigs, the songs they have written worked very well as acoustic numbers and the heartbeat that resonated fully was appreciative and eagerly listened to by those making the early evening showing.

With a set list full of original songs and only one cover, this was more than enough to keep even the most attentive ear intrigued and in songs such as Don’t Answer The Ignorance, Graffiti, The Streets I Once Knew, Test of Time and the achingly beautiful own composition of Yesterday, the twosome gave much pleasure where there might have been silence.

Whilst the band is bigger than the sum of its parts, if the pairing was to find themselves developing further and taking their songs into the realm of a Simon and Garfunkel like approach, it would not be the worst thing that could ever happen to them. The talent is there after all to be nurtured and in The Also Known As, that rawness of spirit was indeed a joy to see.

Ian D. Hall