The tagline for the label áMARXE is thus, “Music from a future too far away”. Thankfully, we can listen to the output in the now, and I thank them for that, because it has provided me with a huge amount of pleasure.
Dirk Mont Campbell has spent time in pioneering progressive rock bands such as Uriel/Arzachel, Egg, National Health, and can be regarded as a true “Canterbury Scene” legend.
He releases Long Time Gone, a joy from start to finish, which you can listen to and purchase at https://amarxe.bandcamp.com/album/long-time-gone I played Gallows Bank on my Progzilla Radio show last Saturday, and this album is so good, I decided to play another track, Na Shan Eshah Psilarasha this coming weekend at 16:00 UK time. Just pop along to www.progzilla.com to listen live, or at the same website, catch the podcast.
So, thirteen pieces of music in non-Western ethnic traditions which are, quite simply, an adventure and intellectually and culturally stimulating.
Kilimani is Swahili for “little hill” and the piece is infused with natural funk rhythms, the guitar whirling around your head, the pipes insistent, the piece, especially the lengthy woodwind led closing passage, giving off the sense of a trek across the plain, and to me there is a mix of the new and old worlds clashing, a strong and intelligent start to proceedings.
Gallows Bank could probably apply to every major town in our country over the centuries before the death penalty was abolished, public viewings of unfortunates hung (and drawn & quartered) being one of the rather ghastly and ghoulish forms of entertainment for our forebears. The woodwind is jolly, lively, whilst the gong thumps, presaging the act, almost in a sense of worship, the traditional string mournful. This is a fascinating song I embed below. It is one of those pieces which speaks differently on each separate listen, always a good sign.
Mr Arthrobalanus was a nickname given by the most famous anthropologist in history, a certain Mr Darwin, to an odd barnacle, a “jointed barnacle” he discovered on his (in)famous voyage. There is an intensity to the opening passage before the guitars combine to tell their news, the brass describing it in the journal. There is a joyful brightness to much of this, but also rich, deeply thoughtful plays from the reeds and horns as we come to the denouement.
Mansa Musa’s Caravan refers to a King of Mali in our medieval period who undertook a hajj to Mecca with a huge entourage. The opening notes carry with them the grandeur of royalty on tour, even the minimalism present filling the room, as onlookers regard the huge passage with awe, all the while, the King himself having a sense of his own greatness, the notes building in recognition. Tambourine banging, strings anticipating, horns calling, all hail The Majesty! This magnificent piece of music is embedded below.
Erosion is a short piece, dripping with Eastern mysticism, as good a song of this type I have heard since Gabriel released my favourite “world music” album in Passion. A stunning track of ethnic swing music. Brilliantly recorded, the breathing in as much a part of the track as the notes themselves.
Queen of the Clan, or “daughter of the tribe”. The strings combine with pipes in dramatic fashion, playful in parts, the percussion misleadingly simple, swirling flute, complex guitars and strings, in a track which fuses all manner of influences to provide for a Chamber Rock marvel. Melodic, rich in textures, and simply wonderful. It is embedded below.
Let’s All Go to the Game is three minutes of improv around a narrative, a female vocal encouraging us to partake over a jazzy delight. A stark departure from what preceded it.
Adunga Moringa refers, I think, to a traditional stringed instrument from Uganda. The brass opening, underpinned by bass strings, is pensive, almost conveying a sense of being lost, disparate noises and effects permeating the mind, but not dystopian in the slightest, more an ethnic jam seeking truth.
Na Shan Eshah Psilarasha translates as “Here's to you, high mountains”. This is music to dream to, the piano, reeds, and the returning female vocal and male harmony creating a psychedelic state of mind, cymbals crashing in the background, a whoosh of tranquillity.
Chang E Flies to the Moon is one hell of a title and refers to an ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, married to Hou Yi, the great archer. There is beauty in this piece, again descriptive and rather exotic in its manifestation of a celestial trip.
The title track is true. No matter what your faith (and I believe in an afterlife) it is, indeed, true that you are a “long time dead”, with atheists insisting that our life is merely a brief flickering of light in between two eternal passages of darkness. From the off, I take this as a piece which, in an ironical way, could be played at a non-religious burial or remembrance ceremony, the beads shaking underneath the sad finality of the strings, the voices then shouting out the title and the obvious, the intensity building as that realisation dawns upon the participants and observers/mourners.
Three New Psalms follows. I doubt that many in modern times know that psalms were not written passages of verse, read out in dulcet tones in an Anglican church by the nice, but dull, rector, but were, in fact, hymns or songs of praise, sometimes sung a Capella in ancient Judea & Israel (and in exile) in reflection of the glory of God, sometimes very bitter, incidentally. The opening vocal refers to Dr Michael Mosley, the broadcaster who died on the island of Symi in blistering heat after taking an ill-advised walk, but the singers still following his healthy living advice. The second refers to a reality TV “star” who faked a Wesh accent to appear “genuine” in front of her fellow contestants, and it is hilarious in its description of the aftermath. The final refers to the village of Ushaw Moor in England where peacocks have caused mayhem by screeching and attacking cars. The whole premise of this, of course, is not to poke fun at the act of worship, but at modern society and the media reportage. Very clever, actually.
The final track is La Livinière, a demo originally written for Egg. It is a bonus track on the album, and I specially love the bassline on this underneath the organ. The vocal refers to an accidental meeting in the town with Kevin Ayers, and serves, I think, as a nice tribute.
Long Time Gone is an exceptional album, a modern classic by an experienced musician whose notes accompanying this album shine with the warmth of the best of humanity, and I thoroughly recommend it to you.