With some EP releases and several live performances under her belt including Cornbury Music Festival at C2C Music Festival in London to name a few, Liv Austen has released her debut album entitled ‘A Moment Of Your Time’.

Opener ‘Miss Nobody’ features a steady beat as Austen confronts a male that is “standing in the spotlight naked!” which paints quite a picture early on in the song at exactly a minute! The chorus is hooky though which is what you need when you are essentially need on track one when you introducing the world to your music.

We then have ‘The Next Time’ which hears Liv in her Country Pop element as the clean production blends drums, keyboards, bass and guitars seamlessly. One comment I would make though is that if you just heard the song for the first time without knowing the artist you might think it is early Taylor Swift or Catherine McGrath which proves that it is difficult to find your own ‘sound’ in this genre of music.

‘Don’t Regret A Single One’ was previously released as a single earlier in the year so to avoid repetition you can read our single review here: http://bit.ly/2DWfSM5

‘Want It More’ has a lovely piano and acoustic guitar which makes it a sure radio favourite with Austen’s powerful vocal.

‘Train Of Thought’ is a great song title and chugs along with handclaps and drums. If it is not already a live favourite which gets the crowd involved then it will be. A highlight on this record.

Track six is ‘Window Shopping’ which was also released as a single and you can ponder our single review here: http://bit.ly/2LBLHye

‘Whole Heart’ has her asking a male other half if she has his ‘whole heart’ as he left someone to be with her. The guitar is crisp on the number but what it misses is the response from the boyfriend. No comeback or answers to her question and I can help but feel like that makes the song unfinished. The frustrating part though is that this song would make a perfect female/male duet with a male country artist with a type of question and answer approach as the man tells her that she does indeed have his ‘whole heart’. The name Seth Ennis springs to mind as he has a strong vocal and I could hear that as being an interesting take on the track. Even the great Buddy Holly had to right the follow-up ‘Peggy Sue Gets Married’!

‘Detour’ has Austen in a reflective frame of mind and as the electric guitar solo rings out I think that if they made a music video for this song it would be filmed in a desert somewhere. Quite an eerie song with the haunting piano though.

‘Part Time Sweetheart’ gives us a real foot-stomp with a rock guitar riff but again the lyrics concern her asking for a romance and it just is too similar to the previous numbers on the album in terms of subject matter.

Closer ‘A Moment Of Your Time’ has Liv tell a man who appears to be a stranger at a party/event “Someone needs to appreciate you, and I wanna investigate you”. Hold it right there… If the roles were reversed and a woman was approached by a man she doesn’t know and he said that I’m pretty sure he would get a slap in the face. Maybe I’m wrong though.

In conclusion, this album lacks ‘story’ songs and by that I mean material about other people’s lives, dilemmas, careers, relationships and this meant that I struggled to connect with this album but then again it isn’t really marketed at me though.

She is a friendly and talented individual who deserves to do well but I would’ve liked to understand more about Austen as an individual rather than just her relationship woes.

Glenn Sargeant