Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

We live in interesting times, that perhaps is a curse, a sign that we have taken so much for granted, that we have forgotten that hope is there to provide comfort, not illusion, not the sense of seeing life as a desire to have it all, but to be content with what we have, and learn that what walks away was perhaps never meant to be.

It is in the fear of losing hope, that is the real issue facing us as a society, living perhaps without desire is just about having your priorities in the right place, but hope, the empty hands of regret, of a loss that means more than life, that is the threat and the discovery of what truly matters.

A song that surrounds itself around this very human emotion at any time can catch the listener unawares, can make them sit in silence for a while and reflect upon what has been placed in their way and how they overcome the odds; a song within these boundaries at Christmas is there to show reason, to shine a beautiful light on what we have and make us determined that at some point we should reconnect with the world and not take it for granted.

In Hegarty’s new single, the sublime and passionately performed The Cloudwalker, the sense of loss and hope are magnified, the fear of losing hope is portrayed in such a fashion that it cannot be denied, but that it also acts as the catalyst for renewal, and in a reflection of the time of year itself, of the passing of dark days into the light and from the drudgery of cold and solitude into the warm hearts of all you meet, we can, and must take heed of the voice that declares, you are loved.

The song itself is something different, it doesn’t have the echoing of the pop stimuli you would expect at the time of year, instead it verges on the epic, the progressive, the wonderful long intro which acts as the delicious hook, and the mirroring of guitarists and musicians such as Dave Gilmour, of the soundscape visions supplied by sculptors of marble. It is to this that Hegarty have arguably progressed and it is dramatically and superbly cool in its delivery.

The Cloudwalker is a haunting opus, one with a message to behold and refuse to be denied; one of the great singles of 2020.

Ian D. Hall