TOUCHING SOLO ALBUM FROM RIVERSEA & MOON HALO MAN
Last year, Moon Halo released Together Again, an album which was a joy from beginning to end, and you can see my review by clicking on https://lazland.org/album-reviews-2022/new-portfolio-item-2
Now, 2023 brings us a welcome solo release, Heart & Soul, by vocalist & guitarist Marc Atkinson, also of Riversea, who has been about for a wee bit longer than you might think but continues to bring us music to contemplate and delight. The new album, and previous works, can be listened to and purchased from his Bandcamp page at https://marcatkinson3.bandcamp.com/ from where the song samples on this review have been taken.
His bandmate, Iain Jennings, appears on See Right Through You and co-wrote Have You Seen Alice. Other guests are Martin Ledger, who appeared on Together Again and is responsible for some fantastic guitar solos, Maurizio Fornacca on drums, and Bob Fleming on bass.
There is a strong familial element here in that Marc’s partner, Tamsin Wonderland lends her backing vocals on two tracks and is Executive Producer, alongside the very impressive cover artwork provided by daughter, Enya Atkinson, a truly talented couple in addition to the obvious love and support given to the main man, as he acknowledges touchingly in the sleeve notes.
Heart & Soul is a deeply personal album, settling between an acoustic work and rock band album, and the balance which has been struck is a good one. It is dark in some places, reflecting the modern world with all the insecurities that can bring, but also uplifting – indeed, the final track, The Dance of Light & Dark, is a fair summation of what we have here on thirteen tracks bringing us one hour of music.
The title track opens proceedings, a world-infused blues song which features some mournful chanting and deeply feeling vocals. As a lyrical piece, it is baring heart and soul, preparing us for Atkinson opening himself up.
See Right Through You has a nice pop/rock vibe with a bright rhythm section especially noticeable with the words showing a love and respect for his partner which as someone who blesses the time I met my life partner daily I empathise with strongly. We hear Ledger’s signature guitar licks for the first time adding lovely texture alongside Jennings’ keyboards to a song perfect for contemplative late-night radio.
Changes is the first of the two songs Tamsin collaborates on vocally. Atkinson’s notes make it clear just how personal and special the song is to them, and this does shine through in the performance here which I believe is a rendition of a life changing event, with all the doubts, fears, and hopes we feel in such periods, put to a pastoral underbelly. It is beautiful, and it is embedded below.
The End of the World takes on a darker hue, referencing the still shocking invasion of Ukraine by Putin’s Russia in a war which still rages sixteen months later and, I am afraid to say, is likely to rumble on for quite some time yet unless there is a capitulation (unlikely) or game changing event. I and all readers of this review will hope and pray that if it is the latter then that does not signal an apocalyptic happening. Lyrically, it pitches the theme perfectly – leaders do, indeed, keep on lying, and people keep on dying, and it goes round and round in circles, but my personal feeling is that the critical events we face, war, climate change, poverty, pestilence, might just lead to a sea change in the way humanity governs itself and deals with its neighbours – maybe not the Saviour Atkinson refers to here, but perhaps a collective effort to improve matters. The vocals here are fragile, there is a guitar solo which cries to us, and an impressive surround of sound.
The Way That You Love Me follows. It is embedded below, a pastoral joyful love song adoring mother earth, life partner, and life itself. I love it, and I think you will.
Burning Down the Effigies takes a different slant on a relationship, those disagreements we all have, but after the row, we burn down the effigies of ourselves and bathe in the afterglow of the love meant to persist and prosper. There is some very clever acoustic guitar picking going on here and a delicious bass melody by Fleming in a song which gets the toes tapping and the head nodding along.
Still Believe in You is embedded at the bottom of this review, a track I have grown to deeply enjoy since the CD dropped through my door, talking as it does of a truism that our thoughts and experiences as children shape us as adults, and whilst our attitudes to life might mature and develop, even as we grow older the best of us never forget that child inside of us believing. The guitar solos are gorgeous, full-blown Knopfler mode.
Gravity is another blues infused track, almost Americana in its impact and is interesting in exploring those moments we all get where we wonder at the point of it all, with what feels like the world weighing on our shoulders, but the need to shake these feelings off and face the future with zeal and optimism.
Have You Seen Alice is the track co-written by the Moon Halo partners and references the Lewis Carroll classic. As you might expect of a track such as this, it is great fun, quirky in parts, with childish psychodrama. Impressive especially are the questing vocals describing the search for Alice and the closing passage in which the music expands with some chanting and the music growing in intensity.
Her Home By The Sea is next. It is the longest on the album just short of seven minutes long. I love the guitar work on this and the chorus where Atkinson asks for help to take the subject back to her home by the sea is achingly lovely. About halfway through, there is an ever so subtle change in direction with some lovely vocal cries and a distinctly more expressive feel which reminds me of the type of clever work Ant Phillips put out when his solo career started back in the day. Tamsin adds some very nice vocal textures to the final chorus on a song which tells us to be thankful for the joys we have leading to the final mournful guitar riff.
Before The Day The World Dies is the second of the darker tracks saying just how easy it is for a barking loony to turn a key and blow us all to Kingdom Come. The guitar work by Ledger accompanies these fearful thoughts perfectly. For what it is worth, I think that “those who believe in love” will one day rise up and prevent the fears inherent in this beautifully sad piece of music.
Never Give Up is the perfect counterpoint to this and is a fully fledged rock band track. I have embedded it below - enjoy the four of them showing their chops in what I think would go down a storm in the live environment. The best is yet to come? Well, let us hope that Mr Atkinson continues to delight in the years moving forward. The final couple of minutes are a blast with delightful intensity, especially with the menacing injunction to “never give up” rumbling as a bass voice underneath.
We close with The Dance of Light & Dark, a track just short of six minutes long which cleverly brings together all the musical themes of the album in one joyful noise which has as its influences everything ranging from Flower Kings to Dire Straits via Floyd, but in a wholly unique setting. This piece simply makes me smile and brings an appreciation of life.
Marc Atkinson is a very talented chap, indeed. His voice is quite lovely, and he writes music which moves one and brings the mind to conscious thought, and this album is very highly recommended.