Patchwork Cacophony is the solo project of talented multi-instrumentalist, Ben Bell, a member of highly regarded British prog outfit, Gandalf’s Fist, originally joining as a live keyboardist, but latterly as a full-time member. Hourglass is the third release under this marque. In recording this album, Bell has only had the assistance of two musicians, namely James Chapman playing drums on four of the tracks, and Pat Sanders of Drifting Sun playing the Moog on My Home Is Tomorrow.
The album is predominantly keyboard-driven, with those old favourites, Hammond and mellotron featuring heavily, but as you listen more closely, you also hear a very talented guitarist and bassist at work. You can find out more about Ben by visiting his website at https://www.patchworkcacophony.com/ and you can take a listen and purchase this album on his Bandcamp page at https://patchworkcacophony.bandcamp.com/album/hourglass
So, with an eight-year gap between the sophomore album, Five of Cups, and Hourglass, the question, as ever, is, was it worth the wait?
There are eight tracks here, so let’s discuss and listen.
Wake Up is a short opener, replete with a radio ditty imploring us to start a brand-new day, a gorgeous piano and symph effects overlaid alongside a delicate set of guitar notes. A lovely start to proceedings.
Carpe Diem – Seize the Day, as important a phrase to the quality of life now as it was when spoken in its native language those millennia ago. Carpe Diem, Vita Brevis – seize the day, for life is short. This is an epic length track just over ten minutes, and the opening is bright and breezy, rather like opening your curtains and letting the light of life into your being first thing in the morning. The lyrics themselves, well sung as a sense of urgency to enjoy life by Bell with some interesting vocal effects, are an act of poetry in themselves, a clarion call to us all to wake up to not only life, but the fact that the world is on fire. The keyboard work is magnificent, deliberately evoking that wall of sound we loved so much back in the 1970’s, but never once derivative, a way of making music transported into the technology of the 21st century. I really like some of the delicate guitar notes Bell introduces to his music, quite gorgeous heightening the sense of life and living. A thoroughly enjoyable progressive rock epic which races along.
Perspective I is a short interlude track, a lovely piano and synth piece bringing us down from what preceded it, and it leads nicely into the second epic, Blind Faith, which I have embedded below. Lyrically, I can relate to this song very strongly, because there are times when it seems that it never stops raining where I live in West Wales, but there is a distinct sense amongst us here who discuss serious matters that the intensity and the impact upon the local environment is definitely becoming harsher, a warning sign from nature as to the possible future unless something is done to arrest the changes in our planet, and not keep putting things off as the lyrics tell us is our natural state. Angry in parts, with a sense of the urgency of the situation, particularly when the Hammond is introduced to us, and featuring more fretwork which is pleasing, this is an impressive piece I think you will enjoy, particularly the emotional soundscapes created in the final moving segment.
My Home Is Tomorrow follows this. It is fascinating lyrically again talking of fleeting moments, laid down roots which have passed, but with a hope that a permanent home and solace can be found in a tomorrow. There are some more good guitar riffs, but the Moog and Hammond taking centre stage with stunning performances and the drum work combining very nicely with Bell’s bass riff to provide for a very strong rhythm section. Embedded below , this is a track which brings increasing pleasure each time it is played, urgent and full of music before the final minute gives us a gorgeous reflection upon the ultimate wish.
After this, we need another interlude, and Perspective II provides us with that calming few moments. Alongside the first such piece, I would like to hear Bell produce an album of such music, which I suppose would be classified as thoughtful, ambient rock, because there are some very good musical ideas here which I think would translate well into a fuller work.
Castaway is the penultimate track, and the third of epic length – Bell is certainly not short of ambition, and this album is all the better for it. I think this is beautiful, a cracking track which is a highlight of 2024. Lyrically, it talks to me about leaving behind a painful time and moving forward into something happier without necessarily knowing what that is in the tangible sense but has a reality of hope behind it and the vocals shout that out, not angrily, but defiantly. This piece makes me smile, there is a magnificent bassline, some lovely guitar work, and Chapman puts in a tremendous shift on the drums, all the while the keys providing a gorgeous wall of sound, especially as we move into the initially gentler, but stunningly more intense as it gathers pace, second, hopeful, half finishing off with a killer guitar riff. This is a track I will proudly, loudly, and happily play on my monthly Ruminations video for June.
The album closes with a reprise of the opener, as the hourglass reaches its final moments, a couple of minutes in which to reflect and appreciate the artistry of an instrumentalist who creates something very warm and special indeed.
Hourglass is a classic of its kind. It is an album which nods to sounds and textures of the past but is most definitely not stuck there. This is a work of our times, emotional, feeling, and capturing the zeitgeist of the state of our culture and world. It comes to you very highly recommended, and to answer my own question as to whether it was worth waiting for, the answer is a resounding yes.