Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
To capture the zeitgeist in times of warning and anguish is arguably a consideration of perfect observation and the draw of the artist’s vigilance, and one that must always be thought as beautiful as well as a study of the human condition.
To frame it in such a way that the recipient of the art feels every groove, every pulse, the major change in direction, the subtle whispers of conversations that hang in the air and for which would often go unnoticed in the mix and jam of expression, that is the sign of the phenomenal breaking down the door, shaking you warmly by the hand and admiring your sense of composure as you allow your heart and mind to synch together and be struck by the overwhelming spirit in the real, and in the ether.
Whilst the title of The Mono LPs’ new album, Shuffle/Play may allude to the art of skipping a beat, that we find the temptation of love in the random, there is nothing accidental, casual, or unplanned in this unapologetic and purposeful recording.
If anything, the coolness of the band’s previous albums and singles have been but the orchestral prelude, and whilst they were, and remain, moments of absolute pleasure and endorsement, they all surely have found themselves looking up to this absolute beast of an album and smiling at how their influence has brought them to this extreme new height.
The mix of the invoking the noir and the allusion to the great films of the 40s through the strings provided with elegance by the Captain of the Bow, Vicky Reid, brings exotic mystery the overall picture of the production, The vocals are on top form, and the song writing is, as with the sound and as there is no other word, truly exceptional.
Across tracks such as Make Your Mind Up,the superb Hell, Save My Soul,Getting Away With It, the passionate Love Me, Sunlight and Not The Only One, Shuffle/Play not only needs to be seen as a legacy of the Merseyside music making machine, but a champion in which others will surely follow. Not to put to put a fine a point on it, but Shuffle/Play is to the continuation of the music power of Liverpool 21st Century as Abbey Road is to defining the zeitgeist of the beginning of the end of another, more mournful, period in the history of Liverpool bands.
Shuffle/Play is not only a phenomenal album, but it is one that charms and makes you want to forget everything else you have lined up that day, for what else is there to do but spend time with the best.
Ian D. Hall