Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

We all either want to stick it to the man, the faceless puller of strings, or we wish to laud him, revere the person we wish we could be, normally a much loved father or grandfather, or the one we choose to call dad. Whichever one it is, there will always be the man that sits in our lives.

Ben Morrs, part of the intriguing and alluring Onward Chariots, latest project Ancient Babies sees the much admired musician offer his own perspective on the subject with the compelling and insightful concept E.P. The Man From 1943.

The four track E.P. looks back at the life of a man that all of us could relate to and to whom stands out in many ways as what life is about, the daily struggle to keep going, the anguish of how as a human being we are always on the verge of something exciting but if we pursue it to its end then we are likely to lose a little piece of ourselves, for after all, we are not superheroes but we have the ability to be a hero to someone.

We could all be that man, we all know someone like him, we all openly or in secret admire them for their tenacity and resilience, it is a trait shared by Ben Morrs as he searches elegantly and with passion to capture the essence of The Man From 1943, born into a world at war and who has seen changes that only someone from that era could understand. All that they have seen, all they ever imagined, all the quirks and fantasies that make them the person they are, Ben Morrs and Ancient Babies explore with ever growing cool sparkling outwards into the world.

The four tracks, The World In A Jar, I’m Radioactive, California and My Father Was Killed By The Sun reflect and appraise life, they give it edge and the necessary beauty which comes from understanding that we all have a story, regardless of whether it real or imagined, it is the story of how others see us that makes us complete.

A different project perhaps but one in which Ben Morrs and the musicians he has worked alongside makes perfect use of.

Ian D. Hall