432-1 Open The Vein – Nasher (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

For a man who came up through the frenetic punk years and then went on to play guitar for the hedonistic and provocative Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the Brian Nash of today seems somewhat more chilled, reflective, wistful even. But then we are all older, hopefully wiser, and have time to stand back and think about the world in a more considered fashion.

There is an immense soulfulness to his balladic folk-pop, a wonderful mellowness but one still filled with gentle hooks and infectious rhythms and shot through with wit, wisdom and nostalgia. And if Brian Nash is one half of this wonderful collaborative duo, the other is the city of Liverpool itself, his stories run through its back streets, fly over its rooftops and chase through its night, timeless and universal yet personal and heartfelt.

Maybe not what you are expecting from a man who once told a generation to relax whilst doing so to a beat that suggested nothing could be further from the truth. Here though, he really does sound relaxed at last but don’t think that just because the music takes a more soothing line that there isn’t a lot to be considered and absorbed in this grand collection of songs.