Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Bold Street, like other thoroughfares and byways, of alleys and parks and particular buildings in Liverpool, has its own particular set of memories held in the hearts of the local citizen who looks upon the city with pride, and the mind of those who may only visit the pavements and streets covered with musical and story-telling gold just once in their lives, but who carry the songs heard far off across the world. It is a memory that can always be counted on being captured by the questioning artist, a framing of the moment perhaps as the sculptor at the behest of time, carves light into the reminisce of youth.
London may have the longer history but Liverpool has the catchier thought, of the pull of the artist’s dream, even if there are thousands of miles away and on the other side of the world; a place in time in which one of Liverpool’s sons Matt Breen finds himself, succeeding, giving pleasure to an Australian audience, but who still sees the images of home, of younger days, firmly in his mind.
It is to this that the single Bold Street sits in the same arena as any of the outstanding songs and tunes that have found their way into the mind-set of those who see the city with realistic but overwhelming love, those that perhaps have had the fortune to call the city during the most important years of their lives, the teenage retrospective.
From either end of the more distinctive shopping arcade the hustle and throng of humanity is warmly appreciated, history has seeped into the street, and Matt Breen looks upon it with both a sense of fondness and prosperity of writing. If The Beatles can write about Penny Lane, then Matt Breen can revisit his life at home in Liverpool and see Bold Street as a reminder of all that makes his life now one in which songs can capture the moment loved.
A rich, rocky and passionate release, this is Matt Breen at the point in which he creates the music with a deeper understanding, of acceptance perhaps, a romantic figure looking through the harshness of flown by colour and the memories of the black and white serenade in which home calls.
A single that ponders, that thinks and beats with quickening heart, Matt Breen may not pound Bold Street in the near future, but his heart is indeliably stamped there forever.
Matt Breen releases Bold Street on December 8th.
Ian D. Hall