Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

To be Born is to have the world, to live and make the world take notice of you is to have existed and lived beyond the realms of expectation; it does truly depend on what you do with that Time that makes the space in between birth and the inevitable passing of the sunset, worthwhile.

For Boo Hewerdine, every day feels like re-birth, an exceptional talent that keeps giving pleasure and like a new born child, one that constantly and ultimately gives those who peer over the guitar like pram, a thrill to witness the growth and strength that is evident and cool.

Creativity pours out of Boo Hewerdine, always in demand, always with so much on his mind that can only come out in gigantic swathes, it is a testament to the man that despite concentrating on other people and their work, he still manages to defy the fickle finger of public insatiability and come up with songs that truly garner praise and thought in equal measure.

The selection of songs that make up the Born E.P. are natural, outgoing but politely gratifying, they display a thought of rememberance, of playing with memory and the mimicking of time; it is a selection of songs that make the most of Boo Hewerdine’s voice and humour and throughout capture the emotion of ageing gracefully against the wishing of the Time’s void.

The E.P. opener The Year That I Was Born reflects greatly on this and is perhaps a more gentle, more astounding way to look back at your time on the revolving blue marble than say for example, Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start The Fire. It is in the memory of the events that have shaped your life, that have been going as long as you have that kicks it home, if you were born in 1971, the changing of Britain’s currency could be seen as a precursor to the events that affected for good and bad the island’s relationship with Europe. It is about connection, to show that you are not aloof and remote from history; everything eventually is linked and united.

With Hometown, the unnerving Swimming In Mercury and the excellent Bobby Fisher all making the E.P. stand out in an unruffled and serene way, Born alludes to freshness, to the new and inventive, regardless of the fine way that Boo Hewerdine looks after other artists, in his own work he is king.

Ian D. Hall