Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *
Some barriers are locked in place to keep all but a chosen few from entering what is considered a sacred domain, an area designed to only meet the needs and joy of the insufficient and uncommon, and kept shut on those who will benefit with greater appreciation the beauty they will envisage, be swept away by with what can only be spoken of in calming verse and pictures painted on a canvas of cool divine.
The measure of calm and presence of beauty is one that unlocks doors and provides a simple key to lifting the Barriers from our path, and Crosby’s own Robert Vincent is one such artist to whom a lock is an abhorrence, that an obstruction placed by intolerance is almost an act of criminality, a sense of misdirection; and by assisting even one unable to access the place of what could be redemption, Robert Vincent assuredly picks at that lock with grace, humility, and stylish demeanour, and forces it wide open for all to enter.
From the opening of The Insider, the track that sets the scene in this new album, the sense of the colossal is upon the listener. This is not an album of apparent overblown fanfare, but of absolute character, for the fanfare is for the need of noise, this is instead subtle craft, joyous attitude and defiance and carried with a voice that is quick to dominate but with that sense of understanding in its tone and appearance.
Robert Vincent has always carried himself with decorum, and Barriers is no different, the songs are stunning, sumptuous, elegantly fluid, and as tracks such as Anywhere, Beast Inside, Circumstances Of Ignorance, Follow What You Love & Love Will Follow, Burden, and the album title track of Barriers attest, the keys to inclusion are wrapped in the hands of artists willing, able, and confident to stand with you as you open the door to the untold bounty of accepting yourself as being good enough for any room.
An album of extreme pure and beauty, a voice and a sound that continues to enthral.
Robert Vincent releases Barriers on June 21st. Ian D. Hall