If Alberto Brevin's contributions to 2023's Ingenious Devices compilation were an adventure in feet-finding, this year's The Likes of Us found the Italian filling David Longden's shoes with comfortable aplomb.
On A Flare On The Lens, recorded over two nights at London's Cadogan Hall last September, it's clear he was already at home.
Flare On The Lens finds Brevin's accent-heavy, between-song patter at odds with the dramatic, unadorned purity of his singing voice, but it's an album of warmth and wonder.
Then-new songs like Love Is The Light – with the crowd carrying the vocal at the climax – and the upbeat Oblivion are greeted like old favourites, while the old favourites themselves (East Coast Race, Victorian Brickwork, the rest) are rapturously received souvenirs of Big Big Train's ever-evolving journey. Only the Heart Of The Sunrise-referencing instrumental Drums And Brass 2023 feels like a speed bump.
