Short Reviews [Richard Wileman - 2019 - "Cabal of a Thousand Souls"]

Richard is back with his latest release, 7 songs and just 22 minutes long. In many ways this Richard going back to his roots, as this is probably the closest he has been to Lives & Times for some years, although it still contains elements we have come to love with Karda Estra plus of course he is also now providing vocals. On this release he has been joined by Amy Fry who provides clarinet on a couple of songs, alto sax on another, and vocals on four of the seven. The rest is of course all Richard as one would expect. Amy was one of three additional musicians on Richard’s solo album ‘Veil’, and this sows him again moving in a slightly different direction. It’s now well over 25 years since Richard and I were first in touch, and in all that time I don’t think he has ever released a poor piece of work, and he is not going to stop now. His music always contains a great deal of space, and feel very cinematic, yet now he is combining that with a more singer-songwriter direct style and the result is in some ways very much like Robert Wyatt, which I am sure you will agree is never a bad thing. There is never any rush, notes and arrangements always feel very deliberate as he takes us on a journey which may be based on acoustic guitar or piano, but is always interesting and beguiling. Richard is one musician whose new releases always get me excited as they are always very high quality yet he has never gathered the fanbase he so richly deserves. He has been one of the UK’s top performers for many years and shows no sign at all of slowing down yet. Poignant, delicate with a real refusal to sound like anyone else, this is music one can just put on repeat and get more out of it each and every time. Superb.