Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Society is cruel, and it is a damning indictment on the whole of humanity that one of the foundations of civilisation has been slowly erased by many, even though we are more aware of the causes and the symptoms than ever before. We urge openness, we suggest compassion and the embracing of feelings, but it is arguably nothing more than lip service to those who are In Too Deep, for the struggles of the human mind when confronted by the images and experiences that lead to post traumatic stress are compounded by the age-old drama inflicted by the words of those who see such mental suffering as a cop out, an excuse, an avoidance.
PTSD is not confined to the moment of war, for even in civilian life we wear a kind of battledress and arm ourselves, the fatigue of life when explored through the eyes of love, loneliness and the self-destructive elements that dog our minds, cloud our thoughts and play havoc with our souls. In the voice and music of Sugarray Rayford, the systematic unwrapping, untying of the material at hand shows just deep our feelings can be sent, how it takes art and the bravery of choice to be able to admit to ourselves that trauma is an enemy’s way of disturbing society, of creating division and fracturing family, friends, and the conviction.
Raw Blues potential, an unceasing awareness of the subject at hand, sees Sugarray Rayford take tracks such as No Limit To My Love, Under The Crescent Moon, the exceptional Miss Information, Gonna Lift You Up, United We Stand, Golden Lady Of The Canyon, and the unfolding drama that appears in the album opener of Invisible Soldier, and find ways to confront a system designed to make us fail in regards of keeping our souls intact, and our minds on higher beliefs.
In Too Deep is an album of inspiration, as well as one that confronts certain societal issues, and as the lead in track, Invisible Soldier, suggests vividly, we are fighting a war everyday in which there is no reward, in which we might survive but come home, return to a place we should feel safest, as one who is hidden, obscured by the demands of others to conceal our true feelings.
Sugarray Rayford is an artist of undisguised dignity, one who has been roused to create and explain with great empathy his thoughts and deeds, and whilst we all are In Too Deep, he offers us a hand to at least acknowledge there is a shallower end where we can put our feet down with the certainty that we won’t drown whilst he is on guard.
An album of class, and before you know it, you are in deep in love with the soulful elegance of an artist at the top of their game.
Sugarray Rayford’s In Too Deep is released on March 4th via Forty Below Records.
Ian D. Hall