Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

The dreaming spires that greeted Adam Barnes’ E.P. Blisters seem to bow in reverence once more as the young musician from Oxford releases his debut album The Land, The Sea & Everything Lost Beneath.  

It is obviously only an analogy, however for anyone who has spent time in the jewel of the South of England or indeed may be only acquainted with the city through watching episodes of Morse, Lewis or Endeavour will realise that apart from the architecture, the scholarly learning and the chance to sip ale in some of the finest public houses in the country, the music world rarely gets a mention  unless it is in the hushed tones of worship at the feet of long since departed composers or in the greater admiration of Radiohead. For Adam Barnes to buck that trend is nothing more than a true delight.