John Holden - Sakusei no tayasu-sa (Ease of Creation).

 Kintsugi

With John's fourth project he has moved into an area rarely inhabited by the kind of bands that he and I share an interest in. Bands become a victim of their own momentum and feed on themselves. John, on the other hand, has no other consideration than to make music. 

I have been thinking of artists that set aside naked ambition and just instinctively create. The Beatles "White Album" written in Rishikesh has that feel. Joni Mitchell's "Hijira" is more focused than "Hissing"; it feels more naked, more to the point, as if you get a more clearly distilled vision of the artist. Perhaps Steve Winwood's "Arc of a Diver" is an artist arriving at a destination, rather than striving restlessly for more 'something.'

Thats what I feel I am receiving with Kintsugi. Part of that is because John has taken more personal responsibility over the playing and part is due to his absolute determination to feed the songs rather than the arrangements. Plus, undoubtedly part of it is about experience and confidence.   

Unlike the previous CD's, particularly the first two, where there was a desire to make a particular statement about ambition or achievement, Kintsugi emerges simply, organically; relying entirely on the inherent internal strength of the lyrics and the ability of the music to move you. There is, to coin a phrase, no window dressing. 

So the individual pieces

Achilles

Starts with an aching peon from Achilles' mother. The music communicates the pathos of trapped destiny, of hard choices. The first time I listened to this I was convinced John would opt for a prog rock decibal jump out of the simple piano & string accompaniment but this is a more experienced John and nothing of the sort happens. After all decibel jumps are at least fifty years old. 

What actually happens is the piece evolves. It begins with a charming guitar intro (with a deft key change) before That Joe Payne (TJP) enters, whose vocals are better than ever. John keeps the wick turned down but raises the emotional stakes. The piece then heads up into the heavens led by a delightful guitar solo from Mr Shankar which he keeps, oh so short. The music drops off again and the vocal verses return as we head on into the story. 

The music is constantly understated and yet very emotional. The beautiful vocals are surrounded by a great sympathetic accompaniment and then a gentle ascension and only at the 6.30 mark, following some menacing strings, do we get a battle section out of which emerges guitar mayhem courtesy of Jake Lizzio. However, within a minute and half TJP returns with the plaintive main theme. John has used the guitar histrionics in the way Brian Wilson would do, to communicate a specific point in a pocket book manner. 

He unintentionally makes a musical point that the chaos of war, of battle, can be made in ninety seconds in an entirely coherent and fullfilled way. It does not need to take 15 minutes of chaos to represent chaos.   

So the dominant musical narrative used to capture the pathos, sadness and fatalism of the song is the TJP vocal narrative and when, at the very end, the beautiful acoustic work returns. It is not in a 'here is the taking, care of the business, quiet emotional ending' but as the central undertow of the entire piece. 

Fantastic. 

Ringing the Changes. 

Serious purveyors of prog rock should not write songs about Bell Ringers! But with this piece, John is much closer to the story telling of the Folk Rock band, Fairport Convention, who might have written this piece. I love Sally Minnear's smiling vocal as she tells the tale of the various personalities involved (Henry's due a replacement knee.. dear marjorie has twenty cats). If you're looking for the naked ambition of some of John's early work you will not find it here. It is replaced with wry observation, par excellence.

Kintusgi. 

I am now a huge Peter Jones fan; a mix of Peter Gabriel, Michael Buble and, well, any great tenor voice. Peter's reading of this piece is heart breaking. It is full of soul and the accompaniment exquisite. There is a lovely sub-Japanese repeating motive within the tune. There is also a shuffle with some great skittish drums. I love the drums on this project - only used when they are needed. Frank Van Essen plays some great violin and Michel St Pere, that big bold wonderful gothic Canadian rock guitar player and master song-writer from Mystery, adds some surprisingly atypical, dribbling, very tasteful subtle guitar. If Michel had come into the scene forty years ago he would be an axe hero. I love his beautiful warm thick solo. Towards the end, he introduces some nice reversed moves on the fret - as if the solo is moving backwards. Then Peter comes back in, double tracked, and sounds as attractive as the hoody Baritone of Mr Greg Lake at his peak, and then we are done.

Fabulous piece.

Flying Train

Everything about this piece is a surprise. Overhead railways in Germany in 1902. If this kind of engineering inventiveness had been given full rain in the first half of the 20th Century, history might look very different. Bombing cities with sacred cathedrals was never going to win the Second World War. 

This is a glorious mid-paced instrumental, where you really listen to the drums because they are not the obligatory playing of a band but absolutely NEEDED FOR THE PIECE. It has that kind of remorseless logic that suggests engineered parts moving seamlessly together. I am put in mind of the kind of communication that  Brian Wilson achieved with the wordless "Who Ran the Iron Horse." 

Lovely synth solo towards the end, not to long, very musical and simpatico; no fleet of fingers Wakemanism's and John provides great instrumental inserts as the piece fades out, leaving us to think of this extraordinary achievement.

Xenos. 

Starts big with syncopated strings and then goes naked, almost Jim Croce, with scrubbed guitar and a great smokey vocal from Iain Hornal. Much will be made that he was linked to that well known solicitors firm, albeit briefly, Anderson, Rabin and Wakeman, experts in Litigation, Intellectual Property, Inheritance Planning and Patents, but that's irrelevant: he played bass for them and here he is a great lead singer. His performance has a darting restless quality, like the immigrants he is describing. This is a lovely dancing, syncopated track, with once again the lightest of touches from the drums. It also shows another of John's great writing qualities, his ability to write great choruses. 

Against the Tide

As John explains in his superb liner notes, this track is a follow up to the excellent High Line. P. Jones esq is perfect to recapture a more laid back version of the original song; less New York, more LA. Great saxophone playing, the drums and Peter shuffle, and the harmonies are GLORIOUS. In a phrase, this is a wonderful groove song. 

John must have a very clear songwriting footprint because, despite having such a wide range of musical approaches, I never sense disconnect or 'lost pieces' on his projects. Back to this one and, like High Line, it grows and grows and gets stronger as the forces coalesce. The vocals get stronger: Peter double tracks against himself but again when there is a solo it's short and sweet, so momentum is never diverted and, with an upward key change and Peter improvising over himself, it ends joyfully.

A great return.

Peggy's Cove 

To begin with it is all 'Braveheart', which is not a criticism but rather that the echoing sounds of bagpipes from that film is burned into my psyche. It then breaks out into a a lovely syncopated piece of fun, led by Sally. In some ways, this is a more rhythmic cousin of "Ringing The Changes." Again, the percussion is used to such great effect: adding atmosphere in the central spacey section before Sally returns and her double tracked vocal is a highlight. Sally carries on telling the story until a neat removal and we move to the final piece.

Building Heaven

The final offering starts with acoustic guitar, strings and programming which coalesce in a journey. David Bainbridge joins in on guitar and Jean Pageau on Flute, both highly sympathetic to achieving that build to perfection, to heaven. It's a beautiful uplifting tune, the 'idea fixe' for the entire work. Sally comes in offering the vocal narrative, which reminds us that the journey to heaven is founded on death and rebirth, echoing what is to come later, the destruction and rebuilding of Coventry Cathedral.  

Then the awful reality of the Second World War intrudes. You sense the bombs raining down, their  explosive force as they ignite, flames leap in the air, and this precious building, collapses, crumbles and turns to dust. 

In the aftermath of the raid by the Luftwaffe some try and salvage, whilst others look on, distraught. But mercifully the music takes us away from the hurt and pain, it becomes playful, hopeful and eventually that hope turns to action, and the music reflecting that, takes on an added sense of purpose, power and intent.

Finally, we can move to refection and John's tune is lifted by a lofty guitar solo. The singers very cleverly echoing the reality of what happened, coming together to offer a choral message in unison, of forgiveness that frees all to rebuild heaven. 

The musical narrative is modest, compact and focused, as it supports the story of forgiveness, then hope and rebuilding. The final moments, as they should be, are quiet and intimate; the piece ending bathed in sublime gentleness. It is not a prog rock drop off but entirely organic and appropriate, in the same way as everything that has gone before. 

There has been no bombast, power for its own sake, playing to prove a point. There has just been beautifully crafted heart felt moving music which I look forward to journeying with over and over again.