Liam Frost – We Ain’t Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain

Manchester, it’s been said, is a rather good city to be a singer-songwriter in. There’s something about it that seems to help many a man put pen to paper and construct some rather good things. And indeed, it seems one of it’s, ‘distinguishing features’ has provided Liam Frost with inspiration for the title of his second album, We Ain’t Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain. And whilst, like many of his contemporaries, Liam Frost’s music is inextricably linked to this city, at the same time it also sets him apart ”“ the influences on this album extent far further than the weather, but to different eras and many genres seldom frequented by a Manchester singer-songwriter.Frost’s vocals have the kind of urgency that’ll slice straight through the deepest of daydreams, and instantly snap the listener straight into the heart of the song. ‘Shipwrecks’ does this best, with Frost almost spitting out the words that begin setting the scene of a beautiful summer’s evening, an evening that quickly transform into bitter, vitriolic episode.No doubt he won’t thank me for saying this, but Liam Frost, at times, sounds like a classic, woman-scorned, big-ballad diva. More along the lines of Billie Holliday and Ella Fitzgerald than say, Beyonce or Whitney, but there’s something about the vibrato and sheer weight behind his voice that gives it that quality. ‘Skylark Avenue’ has it in spades, accompanied by lonely blue guitars. It’s got the potential to be an ‘All By Myself’ for those who prefer, say, High Fidelity to Bridget Jones’s Diary.The following track, ‘Your Hand In Mine’, featuring Martha Wainwright, couldn’t say ‘yes you’ve wallowed, now snap out of it’ more blatantly if it tried. Bursting in with cymbals begging for a clapalong, ‘ba-ba-ba-ba-da-ba-das’, and even a horn section, this is a complete change of pace, and an excellent next chapter for the previous track. Wainwright’s voice is perhaps a little too warbling to sit well with Liam Frost’s, and the pair sing in unison rather than harmonising, but this compounds the brazen, defiant feel of the song more than anything else,‘Leading Lights and Luminaries’ could easily have gone two ways. Beginning with more abstract themes, we quickly get to the sharp end with the introduction of personal pronouns and an account of wondering what it’s all about and if it’s really worth it. At times the lyrics border on cringe-worthy. “I sing and stomp and scream to level out the various memories I tried hard to forget,” is just about stomach-able, but loses a fair amount of credibility when he adds "But I’m 24, it’s not happened yet". However, the sheer honesty, as well as the rather haunting trumpet, manages to keep it in the realms of touching rather then self-indulgent.Liam Frost’s first album, Show Me How The Spectres Dance, was of a high calibre, but a safe calibre. He stuck to the same sound, and well-worn lyrical tracks. Whilst We Ain’t Got No Money, Honey, But We Got Rain is still Liam Frost ”“ that’s what a Manchester accent will do for you- it’s far more wide-reaching, never mind Manchester city limits, this album travels to cities all over the world, smoky jazz clubs, dancehalls, bedrooms of the heartbroken, lonely bars, and back home again. The question is, with an album as varied as this, who is Liam Frost? Perhaps, as this album proves, its better not to pin him down, to Manchester or otherwise.Liam Frost on MySpace