Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

Sound, it is important, it is vital for communication and the way we appreciate the message being offered to us; and whilst silence can speak volumes, it has been too much in evidence during 2020, silence has reigned, silence has kept us from being human, from being us.

Sound, the airing of sonic beauty, or the change of ideas played to a different tune, one that requires being let loose in the world, the silence has plagued us, now it is time for a sound to come to the fore, one built by Liverpool, one for the city in which Only Child’s Alan O’ Hare is assuredly one of the legends that has the Mersey waters running through his veins, and the sound of a million strong people’s voices coursing through the conviction of his considered and dedicated beliefs.

In a time of silence we perhaps lean on the past more than we realise, the future being uncertain, all that came before us, those moments which inspired us to be better than we imagine, is there to mined and rethought, reimagine maybe as to how they fit in with the world that surrounds us now. It is in such thought that Alan O’ Hare under his working title of Only Child steps out of the silence and brings five great songs from those he considers local legends, those that have captured and framed just what the city means, what the music insists upon and the values that Liverpool rightly holds.

Sound E.P. sees songs by Ian Prowse, Dave McCabe, Kathryn Williams, Alun Parry and John Power take on a vibe that the listener and the fan of Liverpool’s inclusive music scene may not have heard, but which nonetheless compliment the original source right down to the bone.

It is the connection of these vibrant songs, Ian Prowse’s stirring Home, Dave McCabe’s Remember Me, Kathryn Williams’ Heart Shaped Stone, the irreplaceable Alun Parry’s social presence in I Want Rosa To Stay, and John Power of Cast’s Small Farm, that Only Child presents sound as a reason, not as an afterthought, for sound is vital, that communication is not only to be seen as fluid, animated, hungry, that is a necessity of life; a life continued completely by Alan O’ Hare.

Sound E.P. is a moment in which the silence is shattered, not by a cruel hammer, but by conviction, sheer will and pleasure.

Ian D. Hall