Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Poignancy is everywhere, one just needs to when to listen and when to open your eyes; the simple word, the unspoken action, all these moments can be felt when we open up our souls and acknowledge that an ending is sometimes only a prelude to finding that person once more, that life will always find a way and that a song, a film, any art or gesture can be poignant and moving, it can cause emotions to clash and be affectionate and tender.
Tenderness is an emotion that is at the very core of Yvonne Lyon’s single Till We Meet Again. Tenderness that is affecting, so passionate and beautifully sung that it catches in your throat, that it takes the very breath away and leaves you reflecting on past deeds, past thoughts and Time, the time, no matter how long it takes and what hurdles and pastures have to be navigated along the way, you will be able to meet that person face to face once more and hold them closer than you did before Time cruelly split you apart.
Yvonne Lyon’s vocals across the three tracks, the aforementioned Till We Meet Again, Already Made and Speke Road Gardens, are emotive, they are as close to heavenly as you could wish for and yet they are also grounded in humanity, they speak of suffering and of distress and yet these sad moments are but a prelude, the fragile and the lonely replaced by the strong and the encompassing, such innocence wrapped in the security of heart-break is to be admired, felt keenly and recognised as very intense and human.
If tenderness leads anywhere it is to the cathartic, hope, and in hope music is always eternal, something that is offered but rarely accepted in the modern world, too consumed as we are by revenge and anger. Till We Meet Again is that world of compassion made real, it is the demon exorcised and broken apart, such is the beauty of the songs on offer, that the demon is fully dissolved and found to be nothing but static.
A gorgeous piece of music, a wonderful offering of vocal brilliance, Till We Meet Again is just simply brilliant.
Yvonne Lyon’s Till We Meet Again is released on May 12th.
Ian D. Hall