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Artist – Aviator
Album – All You Haters
Released – 22nd June 2020
Reviewer – Alan O’Hare, Liverpool Acoustic
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Aviator is ex-Cast, Shack and Echo & The Bunnymen bass player and backing vocalist Pete Wilkinson. The backing vocalist tag is key to understanding what Wilkinson did next after his acclaimed adventures with the three legendary Liverpool groups mentioned, as the popular musician moved to the front of his own thoughts and found his voice as a solo artist.
First came the DIY ‘Huxley Pig’ music released on Viper at the turn of the century, but it was as Aviator that people really started to take notice. A handful of albums and releases have appeared during the last decade and each one has found the songwriter venturing further into the viaducts of his own dreams. There are no straight lines with Aviator music, just slipstreams to be furrowed through and followed up on, whilst melodies meander and the music twists and turns taut on engaging and precision percussive sounds.
“There’s no peace in perfection” he sings in ‘All Around You (Omni)’and it’s in the likes of this, the psych-heavy ‘K Tripper’ and the VU-inspired drone ‘n’ roll of its title track that ‘All You Haters’ reveals itself. This is a record dominated by guitars and guts that leaves everything to the imagination, just like in the ugly/beautiful REM-esque ‘The Ballad Of Tempest Brown’ and ‘Catching The Blues’’ lazing on a sunny afternoon strum.
Wilkinson has spoken about capturing “spontaneity, energy and magic” in his work before and all three are present and correct across ‘All You Haters’ – more than enough reasons for you to allow Aviator to soar to the top of your record collection this summer.
Alan O’Hare
Review © 2020 Alan O’Hare, Liverpool Acoustic
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Aviator
All You Haters is released on 22nd June 2020 and is available to buy on CD and vinyl from aviator-music.co.uk and as a digital download from iTunes and Amazon.
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