Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

Sometimes you have to just take stock, regroup and reflect on life, it can happen at any time, to anyone but in the words of Derek King, To Be A Boy is not to forget what it means to be an adult, it just means that some emotions have to be looked at from the mind of the uncluttered, of the innocent and the open minded; taking stock is not defeatism, it is the greatest strength we possess and Derek King captures that feeling superbly, not only in the studio but also he performs it with aplomb live.

The temporary home for Liverpool Acoustic inside 24 Kitchen Street was the place in which the life of Threshold could be said to have assembled, fine artists, fine company and open ears, open minds to the possibility of something very special happening in the old warehouse turned venue. It was an afternoon in which the special did arrive and everyone played their part superbly, including one of the mainstays of the Liverpool acoustic scene, a musician who can cause the heart to break, to shatter into red bleeding pieces but who also has the magic ability to make you feel healed, make you whole in the space of a single song.

The set, which comprised the songs Sometimes, Sally, To Be A Boy, Better, the dancing delight of Across The Strings and Summer Rain, was one of tight intrigue, of the smile which beamed through the dark and of trust, a trust which Mr. King never fails to engage with.

There are always moments of special quality when it comes to Threshold, the sense of the restorative, of the reconciled and it never fails to lift the spirits when it is someone who gets the reason of how music is more than a song, more than a set of notes strung together in hope and harmony, music is there to heal, to soothe and keep close; as Derek King showed with charm and heart on sleeve, it is a healing that should never be dismissed.

Ian D. Hall