Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Homes now are built with function and a mind to cramming as many people into a small space as possible. There is no room for gathering, the soiree, or occasion where an extended family or a large group of friends can seize the opportunity and pour themselves into position around a musical instrument and be entertained by the touch of music skilfully, or even just an amateur hour performed by the congregation themselves, is for the most part lost to another time, to another moment where Parlour Ballads were the rage and the indication of a good time guaranteed.

All is not lost. It takes genius to remind the stage and those that occupy it of what has once been, and whilst the home may no longer hold in its thrall the sound of a fundamental reason for social cohesion, it can offer the sound of an expert of the genre at the piano and a reminder of one of the great passions we have lost from the ages, one of skilled proficiency in sight-reading in music, the high prize of the domestic appreciation of a musical acquaintance.

Jon Boden’s, along with The Remnant Kings, own appreciation for the mechanics, for the generosity of spirit that comes from such a respectable and noble application of musicianship, is to be noted and enjoyed in his brand-new album, Parlour Ballads, a move away perhaps from his time at the helm of Bellowhead, but one that quickly installs a grasp of love for another period, an alternative view of how music force of good can lighten our load and brighten the day immensely.

Across tracks such as Bonny Bunch Of Roses, Merry Mountain Child, Old Brown’s Daughter, Prentice Boy, and the sublime Rose Of Allendale, Jon Boden, along with Rob Harbron, Sally Hawkins, M.G. Boulter, Sam Sweeney, and Ben Nicholls of The Remnant Kings, brings undaunted pleasure to the souls of the listener, the ache of a previous time in its passing, resurrected with passion and elegance to a position where it would be unsurprising to see the genre take off with a new audience, a new sense of purpose.

A wonderful sense of achievement and glory resides where Parlour Ballads are sung, Jon Boden’s ear for a shift in popular opinion and the search for the new grows ever stronger.

Ian D. Hall