Louder Than The Music – 6th December 2011

The debut album from singer/songwriter Liam Blake is ‘You and Other Stories’. Liam has already made appearances at Greenbelt and Glastonbury, which gives some credit to his talent. Adding to the list of Liam’s fans are BBC broadcaster Phil Jupitus who describes Liam as “achingly lovely”. As great a compliment as any. Liam’s record label say “At the core of his album ‘You And Other Stories’ is a deep sense of romance, not through sentiment but as articulate, intelligent, bitter-sweet story-telling.” This is a very true and accurate view of the new album by this talented singer.

The album is acoustic and has a folk, soulful feel to it, with some pop along the way, feeling quite laid back. The songs on the album, according to Liam, span the last ten years adding that the album plays like a diary of his twenties, and I think you can feel that in the album, through both the music and lyrics, at times it feels quite personal to Liam himself. If you want a view of his soul then these songs give a small indication. There are various references to Jesus and Christianity throughout the album, and it is worth listening to, just to pick up on those.

At times the album feels predictable and some songs sound similar, but that said this album is a good introduction to Liam Blake and many people, especially fans of acoustic folk/pop, may find this fresh talent inspiring. I look forward to Liam’s next album to see how he develops and matures. Rich Smith