Paul Sadler is best known as vocalist, guitarist and songwriter for acclaimed UK based progressive metal act Spires, and now as vocalist and guitarist for Anglo-German cinematic progressive rock act Haven of Echoes alongside Andreas Hack, and they released the superb Momento Vivere last year, the review of which you can read by clicking on the button below.
After releasing three full-length albums to widespread critical acclaim, alongside extensive touring of the UK and mainland Europe, Spires went on an extended hiatus in 2019. Sadler released his debut solo album ‘Soon To Be Absorbed’ in December 2020, and after the pandemic, he started performing live again under the guise of the Paul Sadler Trio, an acoustic outfit featuring guitar, violin and cello. For further details, pop along to the Bandcamp page at https://paulsadlermusic.bandcamp.com/music to see how to get the debut solo album, and the first single from the new EP, which I discuss below.
The trio itself is Paul Sadler vocals & acoustic guitar, Alison Lansdown playing cello, and Imogen Lyons on violin. Sadler has also recruited additional musicians to realise this musical vision, including longtime Spires collaborator Alex Jolley on fretless bass (tracks 1 & 2) and Hack who plays keyboards on track 2.
We start off with Stowaway, which is clearly a deeply personal lyric, talking of searching for the stowaway lurking in his yesterdays, poisoning his better days, and hiding, wanting to find the eponymous demon a place of his own. Very introspective. From the off, I adore the deep strings pulsing, creating the mood, pressing the flow and the harmonies between Sadler and his backing vocalists Helea Gimeno & Andrew Lavendar bring an instant impact, throughout a collective troubadour telling the tale. As the track settles into its main passage a minute in, we get a wholly pastoral vibe, a delightful one at that, Sadler a fine exponent of the acoustic guitar, John Simm providing what is an understated complex drum performance. A very strong start to proceedings.
The first single I mentioned at the start of the review is A Song of Everything & Nothing, and we have a lyric video embedded below for you to enjoy, and in addition I will be playing this on my Progzilla Radio show very shortly. I find this thematically fascinating from the first listen, and I believe its intent is to encourage the writer and us as listeners not to overanalyse, but simply give into the marvel and randomness of the universe, to live, and I really do empathise with these sentiments, because every slither of news or events are in the modern digital media age discussed and shredded beyond the point of learning anything from them. We have forgotten how to immerse ourselves in the joys and sadnesses of life. The video is lush, and this was created by Ekaterina Mulyukova at EKMU Videos. Hack’s piano work is delicate accompanying Sadler’s sensuous vocal and the lush strings perfectly. Fans of the fretless bass will love Jolley’s work on this, a performance worthy of comparison to the great Tony Levin, I believe. The urgency of the instrumental passage three minutes in is something to immerse yourself in, and Emily Mercer harmonises very nicely. This lovely track is an early contender for the website’s “pastoral track of 2025” award at year-end.
Following this, we have A Passing which was inspired by Charles Baudelaire’s ‘Une Charogne’ (A Carcass) from his poetry collection The Flowers of Evil, the central message of this being the coexistence of beauty and hideous decay as part of nature's inevitable cycle of life and death. Sadler’s acoustic guitar work is again lush, oozing feeling and combined with his voice displaying a deep affinity for his subject, and I rather think the poet would have been very pleased had he been able to hear this, the mournful violin and cello building a base of sound. It is pointless trying to pretend away mortality, and sometimes it can be distressing, but it is as important a part of our existence as our birth, and the intensity of the instrumental passage sings this to us. Simply wonderful intelligent music.
We finish with Irrational, which continues that theme with the reality of mortality set against the sometimes-irrational hope of immortality, the river washing death away. Listening to this, you do note just how important Lansdown & Lyons are to this project, Sadler having found some very impressive collaborators who have that ability to set a scene, cinematic in its scope on this track more than any other. As beautiful five minutes of music as you are likely to hear, soaring at times.
I really like this EP, and I am already looking forward to future releases. It comes very highly recommended, a fine folk-rock collection from an obviously talented and versatile artist.