Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Some of the best moments take only a minute to appreciate just how much has gone into them, how strong the sense of dedication and thought shapes the end result. For some the seemingly short pulse is actually the continuous, the never-ending dance set to the sound of the classic that everybody recognises but to which the steps often allude until they suddenly became clear, when they recognise the beauty in the breeze of music.
There is a contemplative fragility to a Waltz that is usually only visible to the naked open eye once it has been exposed, until then it looks, from the side lines, to be complicated, off putting, made for different kind of sensibility which for vast majority of people have no time for. Yet, underneath the surface of supposed superiority that the brushed black uniforms and preened evening dresses exude, lays delicateness, vulnerability and a lushness of spirit to which all can embrace given the right circumstances.
It is to that tenderness that Ultan Conlon latest album, There’s A Waltz, resides in harmony with its surroundings and its defining measure of open inquisitiveness, a statement of intent but one that understands the precariousness of its standing, and it is that admission of a very human dance, one rooted in the same arena as the Tango and Rhumba, that leads to the set of songs being caught in frenzied serenity, like a swan, the grace on the surface is what catches the eye, but it is to the underneath we must delve if we are to find the a truth that the artist dreams of.
Through stylish serenades and songs such as A Long Way Back, World From A Window, Where The Shadows Outgrow The Light and the album’s title track There’s A Waltz, Ultan Conlan distinctive voice carries authority but also that one feature to which so many aspire, but so few can carry with conviction, empathy of identification, a difference to which makes the album one of compassionate art but also one that knows it has to rock to get the soul to roll.
A serios album of engagement, There’s A Waltz on offer, how you respond to the invitation will see how your dance card is marked.
Ultan Conlon’s There’s A Waltz is released on April 17th via Darkside Records.
Ian D. Hall