Liverpool Sound and Vision 8.5/10

The Devil is in the detail and the weakness of the soul is where the contracts are signed and yet if enjoyed and if it hurts nobody but the recipient, then who are we to argue with the world of Vice, for that after all is where the devil finds his lyrics and where God plays the tune.

The debut release by any artist is perhaps the moment when the tune is heard, and without having lived, without having placed your soul into the places where Vice sits and smiles at the contradiction of good and evil, then how can you put a stamp of authority on the work and how would it be possible to persuade the characters to become the apples of a reader’s eye or the sweet whisper in the ear of the listener.

Vice (Is Where The Devil Finds His Darlings) and it is those personal angsts, foibles and beautiful imperfections which seal the deal, where the sound created comes from the soul and not from the inner limits of the imagination. Only those who may have given into the temptation, of constantly practising and ignoring the calls of the inhibited can produce such a deftness of touch lyrically and musically when the time comes and whilst the devil may be in the detail, it is in the vice of release that the beauty is seen to exist.

For Ryan Brooks and his self-released debut, the darlings have their voices, and it is one that captures the art of illustration and feeling, of scouring the depths to a point where it shines and gleams as if opals and diamonds have come to the surface. In such circumstances of reveal, songs such as She, Red Light, Dear Departed, Find A Way and Come Over sparkle, these are not illusions set down by a mischievous imp in need of serenading, it is the Devil in a fond nostalgic mood to which the tune has been set, and it is one that is every bit as cool as it is enticing.

Vice (Is Where The Devil Finds His Darlings), the upstanding and mechanically minded result of the search for displaying exactly what needs to be said in the knowledge that it will be respected and carefully adhered to; an aural pleasure that will not concede to out the outside interferences of those who have not tasted determination.

Ian D. Hall