Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The image of the table, be it ever so humble or overtly grand, is one of symbolism and deep meaning, it offers a level playing field when interacting in the undertaking of dining, it is the structure that aids performance when working and it is the object in which cards are laid down upon, the representation of honest conversation and a barrier to the awkward response.
The dynamic in a house can alter when a table changes, the grander the table, the more notice you take of it and what surrounds it, the more meaning it garners and as the theatrical stories that Staffordshire band Clutching At Straws suggest, This Table Changes Everything.
Perhaps not the table but certainly the single changes everything for Clutching At Straws. Already a joy to listen to and allow the freedom to infiltrate the musical mind, the now trio of musicians have taken a step forward in their ability to put the crafted word and the lyrical effect to wonderful use, from stage to battlefield and the return to stage once more, the desired thought of the song not so much orated but given grand defiance; it is the difference between jobbing but respected actor to stage reverence delivered by a master in the grip of passion.
Not that this latest modification to the way that Clutching At Straws are to be seen and admired changes them but like any small scale revolution, the implications for the future are brimming with possibilities, they simmer with joy in the hearts of those who have been there from the beginning of the first fired shot and the amending of the band’s constitution.
The table might not seem to be the most important feature in the house, it might not change the way the band are loved but the song, the beauty within the track, changes everything. A welcome return and the tables have been turned on those that wrote the band into the confines of history.
Clutching at Straws release This Table Changes Everything on February 5th.
Ian D. Hall