Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Long before music seemed to just pop out of the air, that it somehow became the thing to have everything within a hair’s breadth of being deleted by the slip of an over anxious finger, music would be stacked with pride on creaking shelves, pristine, worn, cared for, over-played and in so many different versions that communication was never a dull art form. In this sanitised world of music mischief, a song sometimes doesn’t airplay in a home, it stagnates and grows cold and like a person who never gets to be with another, music that should be loved just becomes another set of Songs From The Shelf.
Far from being plucked from the gathering dust on a set of shelves, Lips & Sticks, an Anglo-Dutch partnership of electric cool and aural pleasure containing the main core of Chris Wagenaar on vocals, Simon Remery on guitar and drums and Dave Lloyd from Liverpool’s own The Suns on guitars, with additional support from Abel van der Laan, Markus Mulholland, Lauren Daly and Martijn Dijkstra, are altogether polished, beautifully packaged and sets an example and a sense of honest belief to those who believe they might always be seen as wallflowers, that time will not be kind.
The debut album, Songs From The Shelf, is a love affair of first sight, it is the majestic walk across the dance floor and with nerve installed via whatever medium of Dutch courage available, the gentle asking of the pretty girl who has caught your eye to dance, a sure and far enjoyed experience. The shelf should always be empty, there is someone for all, a set of songs that will always catch the ear and in tracks such as The Goodbye, Hear It On The Whisper, 2-1, the absolute joy of A Painter And A Maid and Sad Sunday, the only reason that the shelf should be mentioned is that it is groaning under the pleasurable weight of further great songs to come.
Songs From The Shelf is a tremendous way to introduce yourself to the people on the on the other side of the hall, kicking the wall nervously with their shoes and nervously fidgeting, hoping that the album they are about to ask to dance with will be kind and won’t be fussy about their own appearance, it is an album of great humour and wonderful potential; the ears and the sound making a great future partnership.
Ian D. Hall