Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10

The top 40 may have lost its relevance, its stature since the turn of the century lost a generation who paused their breath as the reveal of the number one was announced, their much loved artist, their latest favourite song, would it be there, the pinnacle of the week’s current adoration; but it doesn’t stop the rise of the song, of the single, from catching our ear, conscious, and soul and taking us from the Lonely One to the one who feels love, friendship, and perhaps inclusion on a larger stage.

Those days of the single being royalty, of feted to the point where the sparkle outshone the substance may have been lost, and that is not a bad thing, for now we can enjoy the single as it was always meant, not as the precursor for money, but as a moment in time in which we take stock, reflect, and dance to a beat that speaks to the inner primal connoisseur.

Jayne Taylor’s new single, Lonely One, is a memory from a period when those singles were king, queen, the princess of pop, and the retro feel is perhaps a large nod to the undisputed royal family, that of Abba, and those who gave a groove to the television on a Thursday night, and the radio on a Sunday evening.

Produced by the legendary Gary Tanin and the artist herself, Lonely One is a catchy tune, but one that digs deep into the psyche of decision, the choice we have whether we are a victim to the circumstance, or the hero of acceptance, and it is in this lyrical dichotomy that the music flows like a comfortable river and one that the listener cannot but help jump into and feel the coolness of resolve take hold.

A song that brings out the best in the world but reminds with honour that we have to search out the places that will be one with us, that we require our own belief in order not to be isolated from that which drives us…that of music.

Ian D. Hall