Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
We may be the product of our ancestor’s genetics being passed down, but what arguably defines us as human beings is the environment in which we are raised and the conversations to which we are encouraged to be part of, even in secret, the whispers of revelation to which reveal our outlook on society and how we come to terms with the possible inaction we hold up as a placard when we don’t understand the questions being posed.
It is in the arena of the observe all and say nothing that evil can lurk, the silence in which the festering appetite of side-glanced innocence believes it prevails; and yet we have to be cautious not to damn those who don’t actively seek confrontation, for the trauma of experience often runs deep and wide.
It is in the anxiety of the modern age that we have learned so much about ourselves as a species, as a possible community. We are willing for the sake of entertainment to see two friends trade bitter words of recrimination and spite, when all it takes is to point out their obvious flaws in their argument, but instead we chew on a biscuit, smile and thank the gods for social media on a wet Wednesday evening.
To restore some kind of compassion and honesty into the perpetual equation comes the music of Chris Cleverley, and whilst we hope when the time comes, we will act, Mr. Cleverley shows us that for most the maxim of We Sat Back And Watched It Unfold is one that for the majority of the time will be the default position we occupy.
Balance is a difficult position to maintain, the fever of passionate debate and anger is all consuming when the back is against the wall, however as the gentle folk caress of Chris Cleverley presides over songs such as the opening track The Arrows And The Armour, A Voice For All Those Who Don’t Have One, The Ones Like Ourselves, Rachael and the album’s title track, We Sat Back And Watched It Unfold, the topics of mental health, the loss of our own valuable infrastructure, and the philosophy of out times are born anew and offer not bitterness, but the imploring of reason and insight.
An album of quality, of conversations we need to keep having and not running away from, and before the title reflects the power of others who will gladly let is sit in silence and suffer.
Chris Cleverley releases We Sat Back And Watched It Unfold on October 11th via Opiate Records.
Ian D. Hall