Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

All We Have Is Now…and that is the truth of it; for we can plan for the future as much as we are able, we can look ahead with degree of certainty that our plans will be realised, but the moment comes and goes with frightening regularity, and we are in the end undeniably slaves to the prospect of the tick and the tock of a potential lost.

If we grasp the moment with a force of momentum that leaves scars on the hand, then that now is forever framed and laid down in ways that leave a searing heat of pleasure across the conscious of the artist within.

Seizing the opportunity is the point, and one to which Mike Ryan has captured with a sense of the allure and dazzling creativity as All We Have Is Now continues the excellent work that the musician examined in his self-titled recording in 2022; and as tracks such as We Never Talk About The Bad Things, Sleepwalking, 1988, the glory of detail held within Every Candle, I’ll Leave My Heart, and the superb finale of Palace Of The Peacock, announce themselves with daring precision and finesse, so the pleasure of being reacquainted once more with the musician is of great importance.

Tales of the moment will always captivate, the past is filled with sepia tones of battle cries that have faded into the mists, the future is one by design an illusion of hope, only the now matters, only the tales we give our voice too can endure and bring meaning to our lives. To be in control of such a moment is to live it, breathe it in, and the lungs and soul will be forever thankful.

Mike Ryan accomplishes this and more in All We Have Is Now, for as the dynamic of the music rises, so to does the smile on the face of the listener become more exposed, more understanding, and the drama to which is sung with creative groove is held up as a cunning example of observing your thoughts and not being subdued by them.

A cracking album, one for posterity. 

Ian D. Hall