Short Reviews [Rick Miller - 2022 - "Old Souls"]

Here we have Canadian musician Rick Miller back with his sixteenth studio album, for which he has kept the same line-up as he had for 2020’s ‘Unstuck In Time’ with Sarah Young (flute), Mateusz Swoboda (cello), Barry Haggarty (guitar), Kane Miller (guitar, violin) and Will (drums & percussion) although they have now been joined by an additional flautist in Jaye Marsh. Miller of course provides all other instrumentation, vocals, and produced the album as well as writing all the material. I have always felt that Miller is massively under appreciated within the prog world, yet he continues to put out wonderful albums year after year, and just seeing his name on the cover of a release is a guarantee of great music inside, although I must admit I have not heard any of his albums before 2009’s ‘Falling Through Rainbows’, but the minimum I have given any of his releases since then (and I have been fortunate enough to review all of them) has been 8/10, with a fair few 10/10. Pink Floyd has always been an influence, but there is also much on here that one could relate back to early Barclay James Harvest while Alan Parsons Project is also involved somewhere along the line. Miller is crossover in its truest sense in that he has no boundaries and instead goes where ethe muse takes him, so we can be symphonic in some places and folk in others, always with his emotional and haunting vocals bringing the listener deep inside. While many of his influences do reach back in time, this never feels like an album from nearly 50 years ago but instead is fresh and new. Designed to be played on headphones there is often a simple complexity within, so while the underlying structure may be fairly basic and moving quite sedately there could well be a complex guitar melody laid over the top, always with the layered vocals taking us along for the ride. There is never any stress or rush within his music, with an almost ambient feel to much of what he produces, and we are invited into his world as opposed to being hit over the head and dragged in, which is a refreshing approach and something I have become very used to over the years. He is a master of his craft, and I am not sure why he has never really gained the attention and acclaim he deserves, but here is yet another Canadian music producing progressive rock music on his own terms and very fine it is indeed.