Richard Skelton - Marking Time (2011 Edition)
Richard Skelton - Marking Time (2011 Edition) (Preservation) Comentários: *Long overdue new edition of this amazing album from Richard Skelton, with new artwork* Providing what is no doubt one of the most beautiful albums of the year so far, Richard Skelton is a prolific recording artist whose work is ordinarily made available via his private press imprint Sustain-Release. "Marking Time", however, his debut for the fantastic Preservation' imprint, is something very special indeed. A seven part song cycle based around seemingly extraordinarily simple, elemental components (just piano, guitar and bowed strings), the resonance of these exceptional pieces stems from the barrage of overtones and stray harmonics that bristle and squeal from Skelton's bowstrokes. It's an incredibly beautiful, fragile set of tracks that underpin instrumental sorrow with simplistic innovation. When classical traditions are merged with sonically daring ideas the results can often be messy, but Skelton manages to work his ideas within a self contained framework and emerges with a sound that's both harrowing and unforgettable. There's something incredibly moving and otherworldly about the end product, sending shivers down the spine on the tumultuous 'Shore', or the slow, swelling chords of 'Brook'. This album is a pronouncedly minor key affair, seldom breaking out of its state of sleepy sorrow, but to break its tone would be to break the spell: an immensely powerful forty minutes of melancholy, untarnished by self-indulgence or sentimentality, and it feels utterly timeless. Gorgeous. in boomkat
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