Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Like moths to the flame, we search for the enigmatic without concern to how we will react when we get to close to the fire within.
The compelling resurgence of Blues in the 21st Century is a gift for the music lover, as once again it offers the listener a remarkable insight into the human condition of melancholy with passion and honesty, and capture the enigmatic as it happens, as it plays wonderful havoc with our senses and our soul.
In Keith Thompson’s return we are given grace, we stand on the shoulder of a giant who sees the landscape in front of him with equal determination and pleasure, and for whom the chance to sink the teeth into the Enigmatic Blues is not one of downhearted tunes, but a striking choral in tune with that which binds us all, the tales and structure of life set to a music that keeps is grounded and not flirting with the irresponsible demands of hedonistic ungraciousness.
Enigmatic Blues is, as it should be, timeless, a nod to the past delights on offer with the succulent and the abundant flourishing further and with even more desirous results, and as the mood and mind are framed by tracks such as Fly Away, the excellent Digital Dust, Crying Shame, the truth in Alcohol, and Miles From You, so the understanding of enigmatic becomes clearer, it is not in the illusionary brightness of the subject before our eyes, it is warmth that exudes from the object of our affection that draws us in, and in Keith Thompson it is easy to acknowledge that musical affection to which we hold ourselves accountable for feeling the scorch marks on our human wings.
Once more Keith Thompson glows in a world of darkness, that lamp light, that illumination, is clearly and resolutely comforting, and in offering the beauty, he also produces an explosion of light that gives the Blues in the here and now a place of satisfying honour.
Ian D. Hall