Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
The pedigree of Rob Vincent is beyond reproach, and beyond measure, for it cannot be vocalised enough that the music world has certainly missed the generous and lush sounds, the voice that could mend hearts and the perspective of lyrics that make many a poet linger in the vicinity and feel their pulse quicken. It is the whisper of The Insider, the one who knows all the secrets, the one who feels the pain and sees the joker played, that makes his return so sweet and adored.
With a hugely anticipated new album out in 2024, Robert Vincent’s first shot fired is that of The Insider, and with a video that comes with the ever-impressive Liverpool actor David Morrisey giving his all on screen, the single is one of absolute assuredness, not so much a reminder of what the listening public has missed, but a grand gesture of stamped authority and that sense of powerful authenticity.
If you are going to return after a significant period of time then you have to ensure it is with style, with panache, and with that most elusive of emotional conversations armed at your side, that of truth. For in distance some allow a kind of dishonesty to weave its way through the missing narrative, their life, the reason they breathe, becomes secondary; but not for Robert Vincent…not for the artist within and absolutely out in the open with the textured delivery of a more personal song from his heart.
It is in that heart that the song has grown, it is one that has escaped from the prison that has surrounded us all for a while, and as it relishes a different type of contrasting experience, so the listener is given access to the belief that resides in the soul; the heart the first cage unlocked and where The Insider can be freed and offered sanctuary.
The song is comfortable in its melody, but it is also physical, its energy is wilfully electric but delivered as though it is the act of a reflective mind, and like the insider tearing down the barriers for emotional resonance to flood the world, so the aggression hinted at is one of a caress, one of elemental humanity crossed with flesh and blood of the truth.
A welcome return? This single is more than just a mere revisit, this is a brand-new songbook that awaits its first opening, the pages crisp and ready to repay the advances shown by the listener in full and with captive honour.
Ian D. Hall