Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

All we truly ask for in life, all that we should be requiring from the Universe, is the chance to be understood, to be recognised for our value, even if it is only in the eyes of a few who seek you purposely out in which to make their own life something wonderful. It feels simplistic, an easy deal with the greater good and wider cosmos to feel content with shaking hands over, and yet for the one person that finds a way to smile broadly at the knowledge they will be comprehended and recognised in later years, for a thousand others the Cosmos reneges, shakes its head and whispers in the ear of a thousand more, “I’m Out Of This Place”.

The cosmos finds a way to laugh at the deal struck, and yet for that one person who sees the bargain through, the sense of absolute class resounds deeply, the path seemingly clear for others to then applaud quite rightly what has been laid down, the cosmos sated, the performer, the human being, a hero.

Gareth Owen is not just a master of his chosen field but one who follows up on all he has done before with a sense of pride, not one for folly but for pushing the thoughts and music even further. It is not hard to relish the thought of a new album from the renowned poet and novelist, it is one in which the stories you are ready to encounter have almost been written for you, in which the touching sentiments of the Americana fused release are pure, guided, muscular, but at the same time reflecting upon with sincerity about the everyday stuff that matters.

Following up the phenomenal Rolling By might have had a few showing concerns at the prospect, the peak of a man’s career somehow shuddering the cosmos as it understands that such a writer comes around rarely, an avalanche of words crashing upon the listener and making them think, but then to continue the story with I’m Out Of This Place, that avalanche turns into a seismic jolt underfoot, an earthquake of memory in which to appreciate the magnitude of the performer’s depth of character.

All this comes through in songs such as Ribbon of Sky-Blue-Lace, Julie, Marie, Rosalita, the two halves of Waltzing Kid and the finale of Happy With That, a combination of calm fury, of tranquil composure which blossoms and lights up the surroundings each time the album is played.

An album which captivates the soul and heart, I’m Out Of This Place is essential listening.

Ian D. Hall