Jamie Webster’s soaring debut album We Get By was released less than eighteen months ago, but it feels like it came from a different, such is the whirlwind of progress – or depth of the shitstorm if you prefer – that life in Britain has been since. Street folk at it’s most grounded, it was both a love letter to his home city of Liverpool and also the working class anti-heroes who live under any roof anywhere, people doing what they can to live whilst trying not to hurt anybody else in the process.
Moments is a considered upping of his game. Recorded at the history-filled Rockfield Studios with long time Manic Street Preachers collaborator Dave Eringa and a group of hand picked session musicians, it’s literally electrified the former electrician’s songwriting whilst also serving as an amplification of his stories. This theatre’s still home to the underdog and in tackling issues like the dehumanised prison system has a grit few artists would risk, but Webster knows it would be almost criminal itself to waste the opportunity his unique platform allows.
Equally ambitious has been the expansion of his musical chops, from the string laden melodrama of opener Davey Kane to the jaunty, arena-bound dreamer’s tale of North End Kid. With it’s creator a long time fan of Bob Dylan, Moments in form also serves as an articulate eulogy for classic rock, from Don’t Knock At My Door (Fleetwood Mac), closer What More (The Yardbirds) and the title track (The Smiths). A man still letting his conscience be our guide, it proves that Jamie Webster is now ready for the biggest stages of all.
You can read a full review here.
The Voice Of Unreason 
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