Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Everybody imagines at one time or another that they would have had this great love affair in the youth that was on the same dramatic scale as Romeo and Juliet, later perhaps they realise that the emotions that come with such teenage fancy are not only insecure but add nothing to the future but maybe embarrassment and the pain of regret.
It is to Grown Up Love, that which is dedicated to never wanting to see your life partner in pain, never wanting to see them cry at a world of injustice or cause heartbreak, that is the real side to devotion; passion may make you a great lover, but loyalty, support and care give you true commitment to cherish forever.
It is in the challenges of life that we see love bloom, true love, one where the pain you see in another’s eyes are there to be face together, and for Ben Bostick, it represents the moment in which he took his phenomenal talent and gave love that one final push into the realm of forever, that of deep and unrelenting respect. For it is in respect that the belief of wishing to pen songs for his wife during a difficult, perhaps strenuous time in both their lives, that Grown Up Love became more than just an emotion, it became a pinnacle of expression.
It has been far too long since Ben Bostick’s last release. Hellfire was an album of absolutes, intelligence, performance, grace, and Grown Up Love is no different, except that it has an air of affection and attachment embedded in it which was not to be expected in any other of his marvellous releases.
Across tracks such as the tremendous heartfelt opening of A Different Woman, Lucky Us, The Diagnoses, The Myth of Translation, It Seems Like Only Yesterday, and A Grown Up Kind Of Love, Ben Bostick comes to understand and tackles the issues of their lives in the last three years, the trials that would push some to the edge, have instead brought the family closer, and arguably given the musician and artist his greatest ever muse, love, sincerity, loyalty, and belief.
An album that gets under the skin, that makes the listener feel and care for the artist in a way that an all-out assault of the senses or flattering the emotions cannot hope to match Beautiful and engaging, a Grown Up Love is all that we really need to help us see past the dark.
Ben Bostick releases Grown Up Love on August 20th.
Ian D. Hall