Alan Moore and Tim Perkins: Snakes and Ladders (2003)

Alan Moore and Tim Perkins:
Snakes and Ladders (2003)

With spoken word performances it's natural to give your full attention to the work upon first listen, but I feel there's a different, no less valid, appreciation attained from repeated listens; as with Snakes and Ladders.

When the listener's mind drifts or loses focus, or when the words lose their distinctiveness and become hypnotic triggers, there's a semi-unconscious feeling that what's being spoken is deeply poignant, magickal and filled with enduring mystery.

Eventually, stand out words will inevitably draw one back in, but the musings birthed in the interim will hopefully have served their purpose.

Like a rhetorician, Moore never falters, letting up only when a change of pace suits the telling. In those instances the music of Tim Perkins takes centre stage whilst never betraying its primary supporting role of providing an aural chalice within which the words reverberate.