Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The sound of the city is one that can drive some to utter distraction, painfully eating away at the muscles in the ear, the grind of the buildings as they sway against the concrete underbelly and bedrock, an ache that never goes away. Yet if you listen without replying, if you take in the scale of the hive of activity, regardless of the situation you find yourself in the road and pavement fort and hiding place, there is a sense of poetry to be heard, the poetic demeanour that comes with every screeching horn, every verbal onslaught from shops and markets and the rumble of the Earth as it echoes the sound for miles around.

That is the city, it is a reflection of the person and it is one that is captured fully in the sweetest, most enduring way by Daniel Land in his new album In Love With A Ghost.

To follow up a couple of successful and enjoyable albums is hard work, to be placed under pressure to keep the truck rolling can be disturbing but when all of this comes with the negative aspect of falling prey to an illness that can devastate your perception, your aural distinctiveness, then to beat it with love, affection and the consistency of truth, then surely it means so much more, that the end result is enough to justify tremendous celebration and the hope that the public truly take it to their own hearts.

Wander into any city, the bigger the better, the bigger the population, the more stories you will hear and the sounds of the passing million trades will get underneath your skin; it is the living colour of the world in a microcosm, the glimpse of the passing fancy in every unlit street, dark alleyway and well worn thoroughfare and Daniel Land frames it perfectly.

Recorded over the period of three years, the album doesn’t suffer in its performance or quality from the long lay-off endured by the musician and in songs such as Everyone’s Got A Guy Garvey Story, the lead single New York Boogie-Woogie, The Sweetest Lover and Little Street Symphony, Daniel Land presses home the thought that eventually the sirens, the element of living in such close proximity to another human being, is one that can enthuse the soul and take it to a most unexpected place.

An album driven by sheer will and motivation, of never giving into the silence, In Love With A Ghost is tangible and forceful.

Ian D.