Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is said that the more you learn, the more you understand how little you actually know. However, it is also true to state that the more you are inspired to learn, the more your creativity can burst from its containment and cage and can soar higher, can perceive movement in the dark, and with sharpened talons seize the moment of opportunity when it is presented.
Like ghosts in the night, opportunities can be fleeting, so when one offers itself to you, you can either wing it, or immerse yourself in the process and watch the creative urge and the prospect of learning to a height you never imagined, might never have considered. Such a reflection of study is to be found in Brooks Williams & Aaron Catlow’s majestically sounding album, Ghost Owl.
Opportunity is a bird on the wing, if you don’t keep an eye on the horizon, how can you expect to see what may be swooping under your very eyes. With the urging of filmmaker/photographer and wildlife conservationist Simon Hurwitz, Brooks Williams undertook a process of learning about the Ghost Owl and its various other names, and found not only inspiration, but a sense of joyful passion to capture the creature’s essence, its habits, mythology and how vital these incredible birds are to the eco-system.
Along with the superb violin playing of Aaron Catlow, Brook Williams brings the Ghost Owl into sharp focus, and across tracks such as Hoolet, Billy Wix, Tipper’s Field, First Dusk, Weary Of The Moon, Johnny’s Farewell, and the album’s title track, Ghost Owl, what comes across is more than just performance, it is belief, a conformation of insight brought about by inspiration.
In an album such as this, one produced from a simple instruction or investigation for a film, the meaning of life becomes clearer. So focused are we on the material aspect of our fleeting existence, that we forget to care for what really matters; it is not the song of the latest vehicle, the tune that exemplifies the unnecessary feelings of nationalism, but the beauty that nature can install in all of us. Ghost Owl is a precise, and beautiful slice of art that inspires, one that urges the listener to take their own flight of discovery.
Brooks Williams & Aaron Catlow’s Ghost Owl will be released on September 3rd.
Ian D. Hall