Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *
It is either a disconcertion or a welcome sign laid out with ceremony, one will be associated with fear, the other with a release of energy that signals a good time and the acceptance of the once uninvited guest as a part of the family.
To hear the phrase, You Are Not A Stranger Here is to understand that your reputation precedes you. That standing created by deeds is a perspective that may open doors that otherwise might be slammed shut, and it is a curse of modern life that the longer you stay away from the door, the more time you spend in the shadows, the likelihood of admittance to the comfort of good grace is slim.
Danny & The Champions Of The World’s return to the affection of the music lover’s senses might have been in doubt in some quarters, seven years since Brilliant Light was unleashed, You Are Not A Stranger Here is the memory of what was once enjoyed in a new body, the same sentiment, the same calm assurance, but one, like life, which has moved on and taken on a new required sense of insight in the face of change, of navigating the transformation in society.
It is sometimes forgotten that songs need to be created in the face of observation and the album relishes the significance of the period in which the band were absent from the studio, the enthralling and absorbing nature of songs such as Kicking Tyres, Every Door You Have Opened, The Robot Cries, The Poetics Of Spece, and the finale of Sooner Or Later all combining to alert the listener to truly double down and feel the empathy of Time, to understand that despite not being seen, we can reappear in people’s lives and once again offer a version of ourselves that is recognisable even if we have something new to say, that our opinions may have altered in some way.
Time away from the centre does not mean we lose who we are, only by being a stranger to ourselves do we truly fade away. Danny & The Champions Of The World are once again visible and direct.
Danny & The Champions Of The World release You Are Not A Stranger Here on 18th October via Loose.
Ian D. Hall