Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

For some, the sense of being so far inland that the water of life cannot be said to perhaps harm, drown or mistreat them, is enough to understand the world, they see it as protection from the elements, a haven in the unsinkable desert and harsh terrain. Yet by doing so they leave themselves open to seeing their retreat become a prison, their shelter removing any possibility of the pleasure that a wave crashing majestically and with full force against a fortified safe-harbour can bring as the residue of spray comes over the top and directly splashes those walking underneath.

To live by the coast, to take refuge in the power of the sea and all that the elements can muster, that is the sense of the great artistic endeavour, to sit and calmly take note whilst the heavens rain down all the tempest narrative possible, that is where the sound of music is created. For a native of New York City, one on the coast but also surrounded by the great rigours and adventures of city life, who has allowed themselves to express their love in having relished the descriptive powers of Cat Stevens and Paul Simon, then Coast & Refuge by Kris Gruen could be described as one of the great albums of the decade.

To live is to breathe, to not be afraid of love, to understand that to be perceptive is not a sin as some would have you believe and to marry the depth of expression that East Coast Folk insight can deliver, it is all rage and beauty in the end and one that when sand with such tenderness can leave the audience breathless, and the single solitary figure who sees the coast from another angle, the same water but from another shoreline, fighting to hold back their own emotional response of new found glory.

Songs such as the opening and musically sweeping Body in Motion, Lions, Coming Down Around Me, Face The Music, Every Day And Night Now and Big City take the album into areas of the heart and soul which might have only felt the pain of creeping dust for the duration and as the refuge makes itself clear the remainder of the album is the shelter from the inland desert, a stunning partnership of song-writing ability and having had the fortune to look over the final barrier of safety and seen that sea may rage, but it is always an enticing beauty when mastered.

Kris Gruen deserves the sense of absolute thanks for having braved the storm from the two coasts of his American adventure, to have placed down such a musical narrative is to be congratulated.

Kris Gruen’s Coast & Refuge is available to purchase now.

Ian D. Hall