Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Life begins…

…whenever you feel that you have found the one purpose in life that marks you out as unique, an individual, or as someone who has lived through adversity and complication and found a reason to give back to the world via art, artistry, and love.

It is easy to seek the validation of sympathy when you come through an ordeal, it is rarer to feel the warmth of empathy and the growl that accompanies the urging of continuance when you create an iconic moment for all to enjoy, to take heat with afterwards.

Nobody has a contract with grief and sorrow, it is only loaned, to teach us what lays beyond the zone in which we had become accustomed to, and in Ellis Paul’s new album, 55, what the listener comes to feel, to empathise with the loss of all that came before the pandemic, and the understanding that our lives have regularly been found to see loss as a state of transience.

Ellis Paul does not dwell on melancholy, it is more a statement of fact, a sincere wish to have others understand that they too have suffered in time, from the seemingly inconsequential of no longer finding milkmen on their daily round, to the big, the powerful resonance which comes from seeing the world’s leaders all become megalomaniacs; we have all suffered at the hands of deceit of Time.

Isolated and suffering from the effects of Dupuytren’s contracture, Ellis Paul’s own moment comes with the turning of age, and yet with typical gusto of those who see and feel more than some may suspect, the imagery is one of resplendent colour, songs whisper with force rather than demand with a whimper, and each one a kaleidoscope of observation’ one that sees the picture beyond the whole.

Across tracks such as Who You Are, Be The Fire, Gold In California, Tattoo Lady, Sometimes Trouble Is Good, When Angels Fall, and the album title track of 55, Ellis Paul speaks out with gentleness of force, the music is captivating and honest; and as proves 55 is a number to relish reaching, for it allows the owner to look forward of all that is yet to come.

A super album full of songs to be treasured.

Ellis Paul’s 55 is out now.

Ian D. Hall