Browse Sections

• Magazine 
• Food and drink

Preview: Liam Frost and the Slowdown Family

by David Sue
14/12/2006

YOU could say Manchester's own Liam Frost is old beyond his years.

When he was aged just 15, the aspiring singer-songwriter would blag his way into adult-only music venues and ply his trade at many of Manchester's open mic acoustic nights.

Thankfully, none of this cool self-assurance has disappeared now that Frost is a grown adult, and signed to a record label.

His debut album Show Me How The Spectres Dance immediately set him apart from Manchester's many singer-songwriter types, and is a firm contender for 2006's debut album of the year.

Forsaking the James Blunt, wet-behind-the-ears approach to acoustic songwriting, Liam Frost masks his angst behind walls of grand guitars and lavish pop arrangements, making him closer to American Emo bands like Death Cab For Cutie rather than the typical Brit folky singer-songwriter.

What's most odd is how well these songs - songs whose subject matter mostly relate to thedeaths of Liam's father and brother - translate live.

Frost's first major headline gig at the Academy 2 in thesummer was notable for its partizan, party-like atmosphere,and further underlined the maturity of Frost's songwriting - heavyweight and emotional yes, but never self-pitying.

His much-awaited gig at the RNCM on Thursday should rubberstamp his status as Manchester music's greatest Liam - whose surname isn't Gallagher.