Martha Reich at the Kazimier. August 2015. Photograph by Ian D. Hall.

Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

There are people around the world that will make their way to Liverpool on the basis of what the city has brought them and made them feel. They will spend time, effort and money getting to know the place and hopefully leave with more than the impression that the area is solely about the four lads who adorn many a shop window and their rightful place in British pop history.

Then there are those who come to the city, from far and wide, from the other side of great and vast oceans or who cross many thousands of trackless sky to perform, even if for just half an hour, and to go home as though the world will never be the same again. It is a performer’s urban paradise arguably unequalled anywhere in England and only Edinburgh during Fringe season can give it a run for its money.

For the tremendously talented Martha Reich, the urge to come across the Atlantic Ocean and take part in a few performances was one that benefitted the Liverpool Acoustic Garden at the Kazimier and its audience completely.

This musical thread that co-existed between wide eyed and appreciative crowd and the backdrop of Santa Fe, New Mexico guitar and ukulele was one that both parties would take home and relish every moment caught in the mind’s eye and be played over and over again until to those whom music booking find a way to bring Ms. Reich back to a city that she so obviously adores.

The rain may have started the threaten to wash other areas of music going on within the city’s boundaries but for those in relative comfort and hearing the wind pick up a pace as it raced through the narrow streets, time stood still and even when the rain did start to drizzle during her set, nobody dared move till each and every song had been played out in full.

Songs such as Elements, Wait For Me, Fadeaway, Gravity and the wonderful Never Be Surprised were played with a sense of serenity and unbridled emotion mixed with a flavour of the deep southern/Latin American search for honesty and memorable groove. In all these aspects Ms. Reich did not disappoint.

A touch of the exotic on an inclement day in Liverpool, there really is no finer feeling. Ms. Reich added a rich texture to the Bank Holiday weekend with her appearance at the Liverpool Acoustic Garden at the Kazimier.

Ian D. Hall