Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The tragedy of life is that for the most part we are only ever existing, we are never actively participating, comfortable in our routines, happy in the predictability, almost habit formed state of being in which have driven in and parked. At some point we find ourselves refusing to believe that the once blameless searching for excitement and even tension filled groove could instead lead to inertia, into the bowels of static apathy.
It is a tragedy that we don’t embrace the sentiment that asks us to Get Tragic, the vital difference in a state of being, one filled with the lethargy of inactivity, the other being the willingness to burn everything to the ground in the appreciation of starting again, to love the sense of the appalling nature within us all, the delight in striking the match and knowing the ashes will cover your body and your soul in exuberant dedication of renewing the passion you once felt.
“When you are going through Hell”, a former Prime Minister once remarked, “Keep going.”, a maxim to which few really stop and think of, ready to lay down their weapons in surrender, not realising that when you are tired, you don’t quit, you just seek time out to see life from a different perspective. It is in such deeds that Blood Red Shoes have battled through the Hell in which they found themselves, the conspiracy of fate which bought them to this new junction in the road, and have emerged the other side, not just victorious, but leading the charge and handing out large volumes of instructions in how to defeat the creeping staid and inertia.
Whether in the songs Eye To Eye, the gender blurring fascination and subtly of non-conforming attitudes in Beverly, Find My Own Remorse, Howl, Anxiety and Vertigo, Blood Red Shoes found that by stepping away from the punishment of the relentless beat, they have been able to find that one magical ingredient which makes existence more than just survival, it makes it endearing and memorable, that being tragic is often the petrol thrown on the fire which brings out change.
A fundamentally superb album, Get Tragic is the progress in which we obtain our battle scars and proudly show them off as trophies.
Blood Red Shoes release their new album Get Tragic on January 25th via Jazz Life Records.
Ian D. Hall