SINGLE REVIEW: FLORENCE SOMMERVILLE - CUT & RUN ( ROAD TRIP VERSION)

One of the few missteps in our humble opinion of Florence Sommerville's career so far was not to have released this song earlier in the initial hullabaloo surrounding the release of her album "Endless Horizon". It is song that normally features towards the back end of her live set and simply takes things to another level just as you think there are no more levels to reach. News of it finally being released as a single, seemed like the cart following the Lord Mayor's parade, surely its chance had gone, then at Country Calling Florence revealed it was a totally new version.

At her recent High Wycombe show #TEAMw21 noted that Florence seemed to be playing the songs better now than when we had seen her last, with a years worth of performances now under her belt. If anything that is what is reflected in the new "Road Trip" version of "Cut & Run". Having had a quick comparison of the two versions, the first is perfectly fine, however if feels like Florence is just singing the words, this new version sounds like she is living them. Take the opening verse

"You're sweet, you're charming

You're not too disarming

When you talk in this intellectual way

We met by chance

Think I only got in one glance

Of you smiling, before you drove away"

Is it us or is there a little more coy wistfulness in this new performance giving it a sense of verisimilitude even if it is a complete work of fiction!

Then comes the next stage, like some modern Jane Austen novel as emails arrive.

"Now you're messages are in my inbox

How do I reply?

Can't seem to remember how I normally talk

Just feel like asking why....."

It's all a well crafted lead in to the chorus

"What about it baby - what if we just ran away?

Leave the questions and the answers for another day

Just the sun on our skin, this old engine running on

What if we cut and run?"

It's a leap from not knowing how to reply, to running off with gay abandon, but that is all part of the exuberance of youth, the opportunities are endless, the fall out, well that can be for another day. That is what helps give the whole song an infectious energy.

"You're the sensible tie and jacket kind

Not sure where you fit in my gypsy mind

You bring calm to the chaos

You bring the cards so I can play along

I guess it's true what they say opposites do attract

They say it for a reason

I'm not sure if I told you that, how you'd react

Would you be out of season?"

This new version features additional backing vocals from Laura Jayne Greene which does give the overall sound a greater depth.

"What if i showed you how to be free

Maybe I would be a sanctuary"

With the promise of a rain soaked video to come - it is great to see this song finally get it's proper day in the sun!