Headphone Highlights

John Power

The La's, UK

"When you come out of it, all you’re left with is yourself, and you either make sense of it or you don’t," says John Power, at ease in his favourite Stoke Newington drinker. "Y’know, in the past I went seeking adulation, and when you’re in that eruption of a band and you’re amongst the madness of the pop industry, you think that’s going to bring great happiness. The truth is, you’ve got to have some stillness to know who you are." So far, there has been no shortage of eruptions and turmoil in Power’s musical life. Combined with the other slings and arrows fate has a habit of delivering, they could have been enough to make any musician throw their instrument down and lose faith in what music’s actually there for. But this is the man who has just recorded his best self-penned collection since he first appeared on record in 1987. Power's music on 'Willow She Sweeps' is an acoustic folk session of campfire songs, rock'n'roll, blues and other conversations with the ether that invite the listener to gently depart the here and now, and enter a warmer, wiser world. Alongside the myth-touched songwriter, vocalist and guitarist Lee Mavers, John Power was the other constant member of legendary Liverpool band The La's. Power joined on bass in 1986, fresh from a city council scheme for aspirant musicians, and would keep the faith for six years. That groups' one album, a tortuously recorded self-titled debut from 1990, sustains a fervent cult of admirers but, according to the group, it never captured the true spirit of the band or the extraordinary set of songs that appear on it. Though he was de facto mouthpiece and ever-enthusiastic public face of The La's, Power's role as chief harmonist and bass player was, by the beginning of the 1990s, compromised by a burgeoning writing talent that would not be satisfied by occasional live outings of his songs. As a result, Power went solo and after a recent reunification of The La's, he still has enough time and muse to follow his own path as well. There he goes!