Ashley Reaks – The Earth Swan Sings Again
DL
Out Now
8 / 10
Genre hopping musician and artist releases his new album.
He’s back and he’s all jazzed up. Literally.
Well almost – that’s the beauty of Ashley Reaks, always predictable in his
unpredictability. He is, in the view of
these pages, nothing short of genius.
You may not like everything you hear but, you will never have heard anything
like it before.
The Earth Swan Sings Again, apart from being a brilliant
album title, sees Reaks on top form. His
subtle patter integrated with the odd jazz riff and some prog guitar and
musical interludes maybe tips a wink in the direction of early Genesis and
Zappa. His meandering poetry aligning
perfectly to the wandering, often improvised sounding backing is a pure joy.
Once more he is joined by a familiar group of artists in
Nick Dunne on guitar and Joel Purnell on saxophone who are now metaphorically joined
at the hip to Reaks and, the incomparable Maria Jardardottir who sadly only makes
an appearance on one track, The Embers of Tomorrow. Her voice is the definition of original and one
hopes that she’ll come to prominence soon for her quite brilliant vocal
talents.
From the opening shuffle of Inside Her Shimmering Agony
(it’s an album worth investigating for track titles alone), it is clear that
Reaks once more has another versatile and eclectic album on offer. This track alone combines element of skiffle,
jazz, blues and prog-rock, a recipe for disaster in less capable hands but with
Reaks fitting together like the bastard jigsaw from hell to create the image of
an artist who will never compromise.
She Stretches Open (Like A Parasites Echo) has one of those
musical straplines that is hard to shake free from and the title track is the
albums proverbial kitchen sink with seemingly everything thrown in for good
measure. Album closer Today Hurts More
Than Mercy is a subdued affair allowing each second to be absorbed with the attention
it deserves.
Once more, Ashley Reaks comes up with the goods. One often wonders where he can go next or
indeed, from which place his inspiration continues to pout from. Wonderful stuff.
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