Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

What is often promised falls short in delivery, and it is only to the fault of expectation that we see this tumble from the high we envisioned, that we took for granted that the initial meeting with the outcast and the individual would be anything more than a one-night stand in the company of the eccentric and the unconventional.

However, what we often fail to understand is that the unconventional is a character of its own dynamic existence, it requires not for us to even speculate on how it is perceived, for it is its own critic, its master, commander, and servant to none but its own pleasure, and for that we should actively admire it more than those who cave to convention on the back of one well-received piece of art.

The Rakes & Misfits, the individual, the non-conformists, it is to those beautiful rebels that we should doff our hats to, that we should salute heartedly than the frenzy of applause we so often give with near-sycophantic leanings, and for Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne that gesture of extreme good will and honour is poised with eager anticipation after he returns to the arena of musical exploration in his second album, Rakes & Misfits.

We sing songs in deference to the outcasts of society, we pledge allegiance to their story and we make them famous, to those who go against the grain and yet entertain with passion, there is no greater hero worship than stands the test of time, and in his new album, the outcast and those who seek shelter outside of the conformist nature of society are the legends to which we seek kinship, and across tracks such as The Jolly Highwayman, Female Rake/The Drunken Drummer, The Dancing Tailor, the excellent Countryman in Birmingham and From Marble Arch To Leicester Square, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne brings the character and the art to life in such with incredible persuasion that they become your best friend, the ones that exist not only in your mind, but in your soul.

Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne performs as he wishes, of that there is no doubt, refusing to be part of a mainstream culture, looking instead into his own heart and mind to see what he can find lurking in the shadows rather than adding to the overwrought and overplayed persistence enjoyed by others. An album, an artist, that is its own terrific hero, the rake perhaps, the misfit possibly, a legend in the making, absolutely.

Ian D. Hall