Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Christmas comes but once a year…it’s a good job really because a nation, as a society we seem to have lost more than sight of what the time of year means, we have arguably lost all sense of proportion as well.
Whether we have a strong belief or just go through the time of year with a false smile of cheer upon our faces, Christmas it seems every year to be more about how much people can spend, how much bragging can got into a conversation and the promise easily broken of keeping in touch the following year, a vow we easily forget as much as we promise to take notice of the homeless, the destitute and the poor. Christmas Has Come Around again and thankfully in the shape of Liverpool’s Southbound Attic Band, it at least brings a truth of the time of year racing to mind, one of redemption and forgiveness, one of melancholy joy wrapped in a comfortable release.
Barry Jones and Ronnie Clark, Southbound Attic Band’s impressive duo, have more than had a great year, especially performing live and yet the natural air of being recorded in a studio remains a subtle high for them to experience and be encountered by audiences.
The three track E.P. they have released this Christmas is one of sentiment, of unburdening emotions and asking the listener to think back for a minute, to take just a moment out and remember something that was once perhaps good and even beautiful and to take it gently in the arms and cradle it lest it becomes something putrid, foul and destructive. They are songs in which attitude to the past and love should perhaps become one as the hopeful snow falls around and the nip of cheer infuses even the stoniest of hearts.
In the form of The Fair, Give Me A Sign or the E.P. title track, the listener’s reaction will arguably be positive, after all the thought of redemption should always be uppermost in the thoughts of those who may have, sometimes without even realising it, caused harm or sorrow. Christmas it seems is not about the latest gadget, it’s about letting go of something that breaks your heart and corrodes the soul, anger and self righteous judgement. It is a feeling of hope that the Southbound Attic Band capture well.
Ian D. Hall