Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family - City Is at a Standstill (Lavolta)
UK release date: 28 August 2006
With a jangly guitar intro giving way to faster strumming in a gentle, Waterboys-type way, Liam Frost is back with more acoustic, folky pop tunes that meld the best of pre-Britpop Manchester with acoustic Americana, a style that's seen him understandably described as 'the UK's answer to Bright Eyes'.
Another way to think of him might be as a sober, straight, Northern Pete Doherty. The City is at a Standstill comes across as much a fractured poetic tale of a lost Albion, bus-stops after dark and gently blossoming relationships as anything on Down In … but unlike our Pete, Liam has remembered to finish off his demo before committing it to record.
In other words, it's damn near perfect and the fact that it just seems to end in the middle of a verse rather than fade away makes it even more appealing. More, please Liam, and soon. Debut Album Show Me How The Spectres Dance, due out soon, should prove to be a real contender.
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