Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart is one in need of attention, that requires care and nurturing, for the hole could be a void, it could be the missing part that makes her see the world with a different mindset, and one only cured by listening to her voice as she allows those feelings to escape, to flood the body with the love she has always wanted to share with another soul.
That sense of sharing, of offering, comes thick and fast in the brand-new album from the electronica legends, A Man Called Adam.
The album, The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart, is a return to the stage for Sally Rodgers and Steve Jones, and one that is captivating, ambient, and which arguably frames the northeast communities, especially Teesside with flavour, texture, and the knowing grasp of its place in history and the frustrations, the depth of love that the people have for its future. For living in the arguable shadow of a larger metropolis can be daunting, it can be intimidating, and yet to rise above and produce a sound that caught the imagination is to bow to no one except those who love you.
That love is understandable, but it more than that, there is a respect from all quarters, and with shades of the likes of The Human League for example, this album strikes out at the flesh and the heart of the matters, as subjects such as the environment, change, industry, the decline and possible uprising of a personal faith in the area, and brings a wealth of music that comforts and which overwhelms with a sense of pureness that exemplifies the passion of the band and the people of Teesside.
Made for and created in the northeast, the album encompasses tracks such as Frankie’s Theme, Starlings, Ammonite, In Favour Of Storms, Over The Border, and the album title track, The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart, the wide expanse of the landscape and the harbouring of chemical giants on the horizon blend with haunting reminisce, and the result is fertile, fruitful, a rich and progressive movement tantalisingly spelled out by the electronic heartbeat at the centre of the universe.
The Girl With A Hole In Her Heart is a pulse, an abundant sense of groove and cool that demonstrates the belief that every area, every microcosm of life can be captured for all its good and not so wholesome with a kindness that is beneficial to all.
Ian D Hall