Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Nothing is built to last these days, it is the cry of the planners and the urban speculators that is heard that everything that has been erected can be demolished and something even greater can be placed in the empty space; never mind that the building might be beloved, serve more use in the way it is, everything it seems is ripe for building up and knocking down.
The analogy between man-made structures and the personal lives of the everyday and everybody is not lost as Liverpool’s Only Child return to the forefront of musical ambition and outstanding talent with the first song to be taken from their forthcoming new album, the incredible and lyrically blistering Buildings.
It is a trait of the British public, inherited from their outlook and personal relationships with Government that they do like to take apart someone who has shown a spark of ingenuity and managed to make something better of their lives rather than at least praise them beyond the first flush of outpouring affection. It is a trait that Alan O’ Hare and Only Child pick upon and the track they have released, aside from its dynamic and ingenious video, is one that really holds the listener’s attention fully and with absolute conviction.
The reason Only Child capture the thought, that they hammer down the impossible zeitgeist with such authority resides in the conviction of Alan O’ Hare’s way of weaving what is essentially poetic beauty and craftsmanship into a song with beautiful layering of music riding hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder with each punctuated and sincere word, never a disappointment and always a pleasure to hear such poetic dreams come visible.
If Buildings is the first song to be lifted from the new album then the salivating feel of urgent acquisition is something to revel in. A new year, a new sound hanging in the air and yet the explosive stance of Liverpool’s finest lyrical poets is to be found beating in abundance, concrete and resolute, Only Child know how to raise the ideal storm.
Ian D. Hall