EXCEPTIONAL INSTRUMENTAL JOURNEY
A certain Mr Steve Hackett rates Nick Fletcher as “the best jazz rock guitarist in the UK today”. Not a bad endorsement, as such things go?
In addition to Steve, Fletcher has played with the likes of guests on this album Dave Bainbridge and Tim Harries, formerly of Bill Bruford’s ‘Earthworks’. He has also recorded with the wonderful John Hackett as part of the Fletcher/Hackett guitar and flute duo.
Come the late summer of 2023 and Fletcher has released Quadrivium alongside the late Jeff Beck’s drummer Anika Nilles. The CD is available from his website at ONLINE STORE | Nick Fletcher Guitar (nickfletcherguitarmusic.com).
I like the overarching theme of this album. The title itself is taken from Greek beardy thinker Plato, this being the name he gave to his four noble arts, namely maths, geometry, music, and astronomy. The music takes us on a journey across the cosmos until we are at a point when our soul departs this mortal coil and crosses the edge of time on an eternal journey. Alongside Fletcher & Nilles, Bainbridge and Harries, we have co-producer Caroline Bonnett also on keyboards. A fair old lineup, then. I should add that the booklet gives a background to the personal nature of Fletcher’s work here, in that it is dedicated to the memory of his friends and fellow musicians, both of whom passed into that eternal journey in 2022, Fraser Moule and Toni Canelli.
The image on the CD is enigmatic, lush, and the quality of the product shines, but what about the music itself? Having given the album several listens now, I can report that it is an instrumental work of the highest quality, a serious highlight of 2023. There are eleven tracks, so let’s discuss each of them.
We commence with a prelude to the main event, A Wave on the Ocean of Eternity – like me, I hope that readers get excited by seeing a title such as this introducing an album, carrying with it the promise of something intelligent, something enticing, something causing us to reflect, in a positive fashion, on the nature of mortality and what may come after. Just over four minutes long, it is suitably thoughtful, with some of the keyboard sounds reflecting the idea of the universe as an expanse of temporal water. The electric guitar entering is sublime, yearning and seeking to learn, reminiscent of the work David Gilmour made his own back in the day and just as gorgeous.
The Overture is entitled Overture to the Cosmos. This is a dramatic piece, with some rollicking guitar riffs and some seriously impressive drum work by Nilles (a musician I think strongly influenced by serious plyers of her trade such as Bruford) alongside swirling keys creating a sound which is deliberately expansive.
Riding the Event Horizon, that point in the cosmos beyond which light itself cannot reach us, where nothing can be seen or heard our side of it, and which has fascinated me all my thinking life. What does happen to matter when you cross it? Where do you go? Can we even comprehend a point where the normal rules of time and space no longer apply? The track is over six minutes long, and is not, as you might expect, a symphonic or operatic wall of noise describing a spaceship riding the edge, but is delightfully playful, jazzy with some intricate picking, serious riffing, underpinned by some strong bass frets and a drum performance which forces matters along, a wonderful piano carousing up and down the range, all creating a sense of the unknown but with a feel of adventurism. Wonderful fun.
There are two tracks entitled Ziggurat of Dreams, which I believe refers to a pinnacle of one’s ambitions as realised in the subconscious. The first part is a delicate piece with a quite beautiful guitar solo by Fletcher, dreamy and flowing mindfully against some interesting soundscapes enhancing the dream we are allowed to enter. The second part (track seven) is shorter and tells me of a peaceful period of sleep, dreaming nice thoughts, refreshing oneself before awakening.
The Fifth Parallel is a mathematical concept beyond, I fear, this humble writer’s comprehension, but musically it fits very much within a sort of logical feel, a jazz equivalent of heavier math rock, if such a thing can be imagined. The drum work here is again sublime underneath Fletcher’s distinctly cerebral guitar work, thoughtfully understated even as he lets rip with some very complex riffs. Jazz rock fans really should lap this up, especially four minutes in when Harries provides the most melodious bassline before Bainbridge swirls away with his synth solo. This is a track which richly rewards repeated listens.
Aphelion is up next, and the title itself refers to the furthest point at an object’s orbit around its stellar centre. It is the longest track on the album and starts with some jamming between guitar, bass, and drums, quite pensive with some effects giving rise to the impression that you are travelling outwards. The piano when it comes evokes a languid journey, and the organ intersperses as part of a rhythm section. As the journey reaches the aphelion, Bainbridge produces a burst on the synth before the sensitivity of the guitar and drums take centre stage again to bring us quietly and slowly to our endpoint.
We return to the geometrical with The Helix. The opening passage reminds me, of all things, of carols. I know not whether this was its intent, but once it washes away, we get some more clever interplay between Fletcher, Nilles, and Harries in a suitably complex piece of music which turns on itself a la the subject of the piece with a simply gorgeous guitar solo whirling around in your headphones as Fletcher moves his fingers up and down, around, and around. A piece for the guitar puritans reading this, you will be all over it.
To The Stars We Shall Return. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, we are all made of cosmic material, and when we depart, this is to what we return. This is a sub-three-minute piece which has the feel of a ceremonial piece of music, featuring some poignant bare hand drum work, wind, effects, and a stark, emotional guitar riff which must be at the core of Fletcher’s tributes to his friends. Close your eyes, listen to this thing of beauty, and wish them well on their journey, a sublime highlight of my musical year.
The penultimate track is The Journey to Varanasi. The place is on the banks of the River Ganges and is about as sacred a destination on our earth as it is possible to get, for pilgrimage, mourning, and ultimately the purification of self. It is over seven minutes long and opens with a doom-laden guitar riff before expanding and dripping with the spirit of the east, the sitar supreme, all the while the rhythm section creating an expansive underbelly with some dark bass notes and percussive work of the highest order. The sense of anticipation or even anxiety is heightened by some dystopian keyboard work on this amongst the stunningly complex guitar riffs Fletcher produces. This piece of music is a strong contender for an “Eclectic Music Track” award for 2023 on this website. Jazz, progressive metal, eastern sensibilities, classic riffs, this one has it all, and is simply stunning, worth the entrance price on its own.
We end with Standing on the Edge of Time, that point before we jump into the unknown, or to put my positive slant on it, our jump into a new adventure, hopefully with loved ones and taking us to different spatial plains and new realities. The gorgeous guitar takes us back to the feeling produced with the prelude, so this can be seen as both a beginning and an end. It brings us down but prepares us as well. Magical.
The first couple of listens of this album piqued my interest. The next couple brought some appreciation. The last few have moved me unutterably. This is an incredible album, a work of art to be savoured. It comes extremely highly recommended.