Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Life is one of perspective, what we might see as an opportunity, another might be concerned of the pitfall laying out of sight, the weary of the supposed haunted house, and the embracing of discovery of hidden rooms filled with secrets, perspective is a Half Empty/Half Full glass which is forgotten by many to mean that it can be refilled to the brim once more; a lesson perfectly illustrated by Simon Todd in his eagerly awaited new album, Half Empty/Half Full.
Perspective is not a fixed line drawn indiscriminately in the sand, our viewpoints can, and should alter as we become more enlightened, or discouraged by the arguments of others, half empty/half full, the moveable point of reactionary thought guided by how we see and feel life. We can be upset by how our life has panned out, we may feel aggrieved, but at times we are shouting into a vacuum, a rolling tin can with its contents spewed all over the pavement, and our perspective tinged and coloured by this unfolding of unfairness.
Tackling this theme of the alternative view, the one on which we listen to understand and not to answer, is perhaps a privilege in which few will muster a dynamic response. For many the act of being a social observer comes down to echoing the thoughts of others in the hope of vanity, that we might share in their likes and thumbs up on social media. Instead what Simon Todd has unveiled is a dedication to a truth, that seeing a glass filled only to a fixed point is unnecessary, that we must witness negativity and positivity as two sides of a coin that can betray us as it often lands on its side. Instead what we must attempt to do is seek another way of living life, one not dictated to by our own limited, and narrow field of appreciation.
In songs such as Send Her Home To Me, Poppy Fields, Judas Kiss, The Last Step, Demons and Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead, Simon Todd, and with excellent support from Boo Hewerdine, Chris Pepper and Rachael Bailey, produces an album that is deeply thought out and one that effects the listener’s sense of profound modern day insecurity. We are bound by one sense of evaluation is a lengthy chain we must find a way to be free of, for if we cannot change our perspective, then as a human being, as a society, we cannot hope to grow up and be responsible for what may come.
An absolute beauty of an album, Simon Todd sees life in a way that we could all learn from.
Simon Todd releases Half Empty/Half Full via Ginger Tom Music on November 9th.
Ian D. Hall