Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
Love is in the air, unsurprisingly perhaps, for following Christmas and New Year, the holiday that celebrates new hope in the eyes of those seeking amorous connection, those who wish to have a sparkle in their lives following the darkness of long winter nights and little comfort, who can blame any soul wishing to be the subject who lives in a Dream House, who can for a time feel the emotion of a serenade created especially for them.
It is the muse that offers and then creates a piece of art that caters for the soul of the intended, the one they have never met, arguably knows little of, and yet from a passing note from another, they have all that is required to bring magic into the lives of the unknown, a hug from an artist in their name.
This is the sense of personal admiration that comes across from New York musician JW Francis in his latest project, the delightful tone and wealth of a life captured in song specially created for Valentine’s Day, a moment for the romantic and the idealistic in which to savour having someone to think of them, who knows that the Dream House is their story made magical, made forever.
It is with a sense of admiration that the listener will take hold of these tracks and see the stories flourish, the small and the insurmountable, the dramas and the features of expression that a loved one has jotted down for JW Francis and the subsequent untangling and reassertion that follows; this is a combination of words and narratives given more than life, it is given reason.
Life is a melody, a crescendo of sound, a breath where appropriate, a full throttle when the stars and the right one collide, and as tracks such as Swooning, Keep It Cool, Steve, I Wanna Be Your Basketball, and the opener of Going Home To A Party, JW Francis gives love its biggest stage, that of recognition, of accurate portrayal.
An album that does much for the belief that the world is inhabited by more than despots, and the anarchic self-involved, for what is better than celebrating love than having it gifted to you.
JW Francis releases Dream House on January 27th on Sunday Best Recordings.
Ian D. Hall