Liam Ross has not been on itm?’s radar before. From Invergordon, his debut album comprises six guitar-based tracks themed on forgotten places of the Highlands…
The guitar playing on these tracks is incredible, razor-sharp but with some serrated edges… no vocals but some of the sound effects and some quotes from locals of Invergordon make up for that.
Tracks which stood out were opener ‘Photo Albums in the Sky’, and ‘In the Belly of the Steel Beast’, which uses some interesting percussion before a lovely acoustic instrumental (which could be ramped up into a real racket – some of it sounds a bit like Neil Young or Nirvana’s MTV unplugged sets).
‘These Streets in the Sky’ compiles a lot of opinions about the town of Invergordon before some soulful and ponderous strumming, very reflective…
The remaining tracks include ‘Darklands’ which has more dialogue regarding “the longest echo in the world”, (inside an old local oil structure) before another great acoustic bash.
On this showing Liam Ross is definitely an emerging talent, blending music and memories in a similar way to the last Public Service Broadcasting album did a couple of years ago