Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

One Day…it is the lie and the hope we tell each ourselves, the moment when we decide firmly that we wish to attempt to own a slice of time that is forever ours; whether we achieve it or not is not in the lap of the gods or the dictation of fate, it is whether we believe the lie enough to see it become reality, or we cloud our judgement by insisting that the truth of success is unobtainable, that hope sits in the same imposing chair as scornful optimism and cannot be budged by sheer human effort.

One Day of course is a promise, if we dare, and one that Midland Railway have once more shown they not only live up to, but thoroughly exemplify; when in reality the band have conquered that moment, and all they personally have been through and lost in the last few years. In their latest single, One Day, the ethic of the band is resolute, the punk flavour is joyous, the undercurrent of voltage and brutality catches the ear, and the vocal of the performance blends superbly well with the idea of being subservient to the whims of Time and which forms an almost existential crisis in the listener’s mind.

It is in the punk groove that the band have made the single one of endearing fascination, a discordant world sound that sits at home in the heart without fear of retribution; only those with rods of iron inserted in a most uncomfortable place would turn their nose up at the offering, at the artistry involved that gives the piece its dramatic edge, its sense of outrage.

One Day…but surely if we have the means then it should have a defining date attached to it, and if that is the case, then for Midland Railway, that time is now.

Ian D. Hall