Ian D. Hall
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
There are bands who leave you spinning with control, they are like the white willows that float in the breeze, tumbling, falling and rising with the promise of granting a wish should they be caught but ultimately and despairingly, letting down the patient hunter and collector of such timid dreams. The willow is not the parachute that should be chased in the eternal hope of finding a safety net of excitement and endowing insights in to the nature of the universe, it is the long-standing Whirligig!, the power of the wind machine that harness the elements, the weather-vane, the barometer of life that should in respect be enjoyed and taken pleasure in.
For The Cherry Bluestorms, the passing of the last year or so has not been easy, yet from the industry that comes with pressure, comes the invention of seeking truth, of finding a way to harness the natural element that has beset your place in life and proves that with Time, with sheer endeavor, comes a moment when you realise that whatever trials you faced, it was only to set you on the right track in the future, the position in which you can face down the wind and give back in spades your own breath, your own tornado driven soul.
Deborah Gee, Glen Laughlin, and Mark Francis White have seen the Whirligig! and have found a way to keep the machine running smoothly, of allowing the decorated to become a kaleidoscope of colour and passion, a moment of hand-held desire and introspection that has found itself to be a monument of endearing quality.
If you know The Cherry Bluestorms at all, then this will come as no surprise, the way they have always striven to keep their artistry close to the realm of purity and intriguing has been the mainstay of what marks them out as being a unique group in a world of conforming appetites, and even in Whirligig! there is still the status of feeling a different kind of pulse moving under the skin, the theatrical measure is still there but it has shifted, more dynamic, more accessible perhaps.
It is in that new-found pulse that songs such as Heel To Toe, Rays of The Sun, Seven League Boots, Purple Heart Magic, Brighter Days, Each Mortal Day and the sublime cover of The Beatles song She Said She Said come alive, the Whirligig! being driven by the power of an inexhaustible pump, of new release and sparkling ideas. The Cherry Bluestorms have been ahead of the tide and game for a long time, the way they refuse to bend their heads in the face of overwhelming mundane thought from others is a testament to their matchless form. Whirligig! is strength personified, a machine built out of passion to see the great sound continue.