Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 7/10

To expect an artist to produce the same material time and again shows that find the process of individual evolution is beyond you, for whilst art has been reduced to an entertainment rather than attainment, we must remember that in the end the art has been only loaned to us, we are the ones who benefit from the process, but the overall canon of work belongs solely to the artist; it is their generosity and need that sees it come to life in the minds of those seeking illumination.

That said, in a world of adaption of change, sometimes the message doesn’t quite translate, the sincerity of the art is there for all to witness, it just that spirit, the soul, may be missing, an argument on both sides perhaps, but one that cannot be ignored or glossed over, and as the new album by Kacey Musgraves looks to cement her well-deserved place in the home of impassioned young female singer/songwriters, it is perhaps with a sense of sadness that the album doesn’t pique the interest of the listener as much as it should, nor does it seem to have the same heart as those albums that came before.

It’s not that Star-Crossed is different, nor is it a vast departure of style, it is just that the sense of drama has been replaced by a view that sees the world now from an angle that doesn’t quite give the listener the chance to empathise, even congratulate the talented performer on her observation, and whilst the tracks themselves, including Good Wife, If This Was A Movie…, Breadwinner, Camera Roll and What Doesn’t Kill Me, all sing purposely intended of the themes of the album, there is insufficient awareness to make the album the physically imposing belief that it fully intended to be.

It perhaps speaks more of the two-way conversation that is required between artist and listener, between the illustrator of emotions and the voyeur on the lookout for inspiration, after all it is okay, indeed important, to be able to change the script of life and performance, but there is a fine line between evolution and burning all that went before in a raging fire of complex musical difference.

Ian D. Hall