Walking with Ghosts
At
last David Wright's follow up to '360' is completed after four years in the making and it has been worth the wait. This is his best album
to date by a country mile. It is his most consistent, coherent and mature musical statement where he returns to what he does best, producing
emotional electronic music for the heart and the head. A variety of styles fuse together in a totally satisfying blend.
Recognizable David Wright trademarks and the contributions from the variety of guest musicians merge into one organic, seamless soundtrack
leaving the listener to experience a personal sonic voyage into their own inner or outer space. The set begins with 'Going Down', very
subtle textures and descending and ascending pitches which serve as a prequel to 'A Certain Malaise' which begins with brisk percussion,
including tabla effects and a superb cinematic twangy guitar motif vaguely reminiscent of spaghetti western themes, with a bass line to
match Morricone at his best.
Before the dust has time to stick in the throat, we are into 'A Road to Nowhere (A Nomadic Tale)' which adds percussion, sequences, a
terrific theme and some scorching guitar by Andy Lobban. A brilliant track. This is followed by 'Midnight in the Shadow of Temptation and
Delight', a tranquil sonic oasis of expansive synths and in contrast to the previous searing guitar, wonderfully gentle, expressive, echoed
fretwork.
This proves to be merely the eye of the storm however, as 'Return of the Nomad' cross fades in even more powerful than before reprising
the themes and Lobban's blistering guitar licks electrify the mix. Again, in complete contrast, this is succeeded by 'Beyond Paradise'
a superlative 'come down' track. This is 'Beside the Sleepy Lagoon' for the chill out generation. A gentle bass pulse, sea breeze electronics
and a classically understated timeless synth motif which comforts and soothes away the collected angst accumulated in the recesses of your
brain is occasionally augmented by blissful heavenly strings.
'Night Falls' continues the lilting bass line and motif but adds tasteful saxophone and cymbal effects as the air slowly chills to almost
subliminal whispers and echoes. 'Darklands' adds a more ominous tone with insistent, doomy chords, moody strings and piano improvisations
around a theme. 'Flame Sky' changes the atmosphere again with expansive synth and guitar but with Cionna Lee's violin adding another dimension
to the sound with marimba like effects changing the mood again to create a more dream-like, hypnotic, ethnic atmosphere.
'No
More Angels', another meditative, vaguely ominous piece, features more creative and subtle guitar textures with threatening, restless strings,
minimalist piano and rare meteorological interference. 'Too Late Now!' is the most abstract piece on the album with vague ethnic references,
sweeps and washes which again serve as contrast to the opening section of the 23 minute eponymous opus.'
"Walking with Ghosts: Penumbra'' begins with expressive, haunting classical piano eventually backed with treated voices in counter harmony.
'The second section 'Walking with Ghosts -The Gift' raises the tempo a little with Bill Kibby's guitar gracing the mix before another memorable
tune makes an immediate impact upon the listener while the guitar contributions continue to impress throughout.
'Walking with Ghosts - Acheron' slows the pace right down as the piano returns, eventually backed by strings and a more melancholic, downbeat
melody emerges cross fading into the finale, 'Walking with Ghosts - C 'est la vie'. Carrying a church like organ into the opening section
the sound becomes progressively more expansive as guitar and percussion return until around 2 minutes 46 the track winds down suddenly
into an impressionistic, downbeat ending.
Thus ends a very impressive album. On 'Walking With Ghosts' David Wright's influences and the valuable input of all the guest musicians
create a diverse but creatively consistent set but above all it is here that the composer's own style and vision emerges triumphantly.
In David Wright's own words 'Ultimately though,'Walking with Ghosts' is a collection of songs; songs that I hope are thought provoking
and to which you the listener will attach his or her own emotional interpretation'. This is achieved and much more. Much more! Even if
David Wright's output has not appealed to you in the past this is worth your attention and deserves a place in your collection.
Walking with Ghosts - Comments
"THE Fantasy Excursion disc of 2002 - an incredible musical voyage." (Bear, WWSU Radio).
"What a great album! I just can't take it out of my CD player."
(Ken Onstad - Liquid 8 Records).
"An incredible piece of work - it really took me by surprise!"
(Mike Valent - USA).
"Terrific, easily his finest work to date."
(Steve Roberts - Sequences).
"An instrumental gem." (Synth Music Direct).
Walking with Ghosts
David
Wright's extremely ambitious album Walking With Ghosts is more like three or four "mini" albums. For one thing, it's between 74
and 75 minutes long! But what I mean by my comment is how the recording has discernible "movements" as it tracks through its
fifteen songs. Besides that analytical statement, I can also testify that this is a brilliant CD as well. Even the songs that I cared
for less than others are still clearly superior music. And most of what is here (and at almost 75 minutes, that's a lot of music) is
absolutely fantastic. I'm sure I played this thing at least ten to fifteen times before writing this review. Some of the songs on this
album are among the best cuts I heard all of last year.
Once you clear the opening short spacey/ambient piece ("Going Down?"), the first "movement" (tracks 2, 3, 4, 5, titled "A
Certain Malaise," "Road to Nowhere (A Nomadic Tale)," "Midnight in the Shadow of
Temptation and Delight" and "Return
of the Nomad") features upbeat, punchy, catchy, rhythm-driven British EM (British EM differs in feel and texture from German/Berlin-school
EM in several hard-to-describe but recognizable ways). There is a scattering of slight Germanesque sequencer work, but it's slight and
not dominant at all. Later passages in this movement features some of the same musical "themes" from earlier, but slows them
down and adds tasty proggish guitar (Andy Lobban and Bill Kibby take turns throughout the album on electric guitar - and sometimes the
guitar work is pronounced, so if you dislike stinging electric leads, be forewarned that some of the songs on Walking With Ghosts do rock!).
Before track 5 is over, though, we're back into even higher energy propulsive EM than the opening section.
The second movement starts with track 6 ("Beyond Paradise") and here Wright weaves a gently loping and highly melodic web of new age
keyboards mixed with subtle EM rhythms. The melodic refrain is handled first by pretty synth strings and later by what sounds like a sampled
Theremin! This movement concludes on the next track and thematic elements are played around with for a bit by a sensuous sax sample - but
it's not jazzy though and the Theremin does most of the interpreting of the theme.
"Darklands," (track 8) as you might expect from its title, takes the album into darker territory. Minor tonalities, doses of
melancholy, subdued soaring electric guitar leads and mournful echoed piano all contribute to a bleak yet beautiful slice of ambient/EM/new
age music. This "movement" is less distinct than what has come before; in fact, Wright's use of repeated refrains and motifs
surfaces less frequently from here on until track 12. "No More Angels" (track 10) is highlighted by Andy Lobban's sterling guitar
work. This song is much more guitar-oriented than most of the others on the CD. Sad-sounding prog-rockish guitar mixes with spacey keyboards,
but once again Wright finds a way to always interject a sense of beauty even when things are mournful. The piece gets fairly energetic
at times during the song's seven-plus minutes, but nothing frenetic or too loud.
The last four tracks are a suite of sorts, all titled "Walking with Ghosts," followed by a sub-title ("Penumbra," "The
Gift," "Acheron," and "C'est la vie"). As a thematic suite, it's magnificent. The music has an almost neo-classical
feel as it begins with piano and a very subtle undercurrent of keyboards that slowly grows to include lush strings. The repeating motif
reminded me somewhat of Philip Glass at times. The next track has the same "feel" but ramps it all up by adding stinging electric
guitar leads and pulsing synths/synth-beats. Drama is underscored and bold-faced by Wright's great use of synth string sections playing
short bowed chords. The third song slows down and brings spacey synth effects into play against the muted guitar work, along with a backdrop
of thunder and falling rain. Piano eventually comes to the forefront as the cut once again moves into somber and melancholic soundscape
territory. As this song transitions to the last cut, broad sweeping strings (bowed and plucked) impart a strong classical texture, which
only increases with a beautiful oboe sample. Massive-sounding cathedral-style organ takes over the melodic refrain in a blaze of dramatic
thunder, along with analog-synth notes, church organ, pulsing EM beats, piano and who knows what else, all repeating the musical motif
that was introduced back in the first track of the suite. Before the end, though, things subside into a quiet stillness before a final
mini-crescendo.
I normally refrain from listing so much specific detail about an album's music in my reviews these days, but a work as artistically complex
and emotionally satisfying as Walking with Ghosts deserves the "full treatment," as it were. Wright's liner notes infer that
he put his whole heart and soul into this recording, drawing on his many musical influences and recording parts of it all over the world
from 1998 to 2002. I can believe it.
This album is an amazing feat of both technical wizardry (the recording sounds awesome on headphones)
and artistic soul-baring. Seldom does overt electronic music reflect this level of genuine emotion. Veering from sincerely powerful to
joyously affirming to somberly tragic, yet beautifully haunting throughout, Walking with Ghosts is a landmark piece of work. Highly recommended.
Ocean Watch
From
1992/93, the pattern of tracks is similar in construction to that of the previous album – several lengthy epics and a few shorter
pieces – but, musically, the album reveals a maturity that is quite surprising, bearing in mind the time that has passed and the
high standards set previously. The 8 tracks have much more life than the previous two – This music seems to leap out at you! The
classical feel is supplemented, as opposed to replaced, by a vibrant, almost European sea of rhythms and melodies, while the feel and construction
that makes DW music so unique and hypnotic is still present.
In a way, even though the comparison is not being made on a “sound-alike” basis, this somehow has much more of a cosmic Vangelis
feel running through it, with that sense of dynamics, strength and beauty working in perfect harmony, so that even the space music seems
melodic, and nothing ever stands still. The final track ‘Beyond The Airwaves # 2’ is a bit of an epic! Lasting nearly twenty-eight
minutes, it sustains every last one of them, starting with an ocean of string-synths before going on into more far-eastern realms and then
a mix of haunting electronic generated effects. From there it enters a gorgeous flowing string synth passage that moves onto darker, slightly
hostile cosmic territories, before opening out onto sunnier, but still spacey plains. From there it gathers all the synth clouds together
to open up a clearer sky, and then layers between full-sounding strings and soothing, quiet space music passages. Finally a rippling piano
motif leads us into a passage of the more heart-warming style of cosmic music, and the piece slowly flows slowly on to its conclusion.
A very, very good album!
Blue - Hypnosis Concert
Once again a superlative work that contains incredible ambient information that only enhances the atmosphere created in this remarkable live recording. Suffice to say that the entire experience is both enlightening and immensely enjoyable and that commentary on the individual tracks would serve no purpose other than to report on an incredible experience out of context. Once again a disc that would stand on it's own and only enhances the complete package concept of presenting a productive musical period that would have otherwise gone unheard. "This box set puts that right and "fills the gaps".
Very highly recommended as an essential addition to any space music fans library of listening material. Please remember that there are only 2000 of these sets released. Fair warning as I cannot imagine that they will last very long.
Full Review click here.
Three Six Zero
Wright's
compositions are elegant and sophisticated, full of texture and depth. "Guardians", for instance, adds a real violin to its multi layered ambient melody, with male and female vocals threaded through the rhythm. The violin's sharp, mournful tones interact with the more technological elements of the song in an intriguingly "organic" fashion, throwing them into sharp relief. "Memories", on the other hand, takes a more stripped-down approach, melding a delicately evocative piano melody with undercurrents of rhythm. World music fans will be pleased to find a wide range of international influences in Wright's work, though they're integrated seamlessly rather than dangled in front of the listener in a "Look at my trans-cultural influences" fashion.
The result is frequently breathtaking -- "Shah", for instance, combines Hatem Kamel's chanting with a lush string-type arrangement that wouldn't sound at all out of place on an In The Nursery album, and the track's transition into the even more chant-oriented "Listen!" plays up the Eastern connection. If you've enjoyed the contemporary-orchestral sound of ITN and others of their ilk, you'll probably find Three Six Zero to be right up your alley -- though, as seems to be the case with many AD Music releases, it helps if you have a fondness for (or at least acceptance of) New Age music, too.
Moments in TIme
Extended,
vast, melodic soundscapes with both cosmic/spacey and romantic/emotional undertones and no powerful rhythms, and in a sense, the last and possibly ultimate epic scale work to be produced by Dave Wright! It opens with a seven-minute track that has a distinctly anthemic,
almost militaristic, flavour to its slowly marching rhythms, but there’s a silent quality to the vari-textured lead work from harpsichord-like, and surrounding space synths, which together with the main leads that rise up on a big melodic wave, give the piece a full sense of grandeur that never becomes overblown. Following this comes the five-part, sixty-nine minute ‘Spirit Of The Plains’, a work that is mind-bogglingly vast in its scope and breadth.
Much of the music is cosmic, but that’s not to say it doesn’t have added melodies here, slowly moving rhythms there, and beautiful space synth swoops all over the place, while at its heart remaining a slowly gathering epic of gorgeous synthscapes. As always, no idea ever outstays its welcome, the mood is always one of warmth, depth and the music is positively galaxian in scope. The assorted textural variety of synth “voices” from strings to flutes, and deep bass to flowing cosmic synths, is both vast and spectacular, while the added melodic qualities and the overall openness of the soundscapes only serve to enhance that is an already quite incredible epic piece.
This disc’s seventy-nine minutes playing time passes almost imperceptibly as you settle down to some of the best UK cosmic melodic music of its time.
Walking with Ghosts
Review by Sylvian
Guts Of Darkness: The French Website of Dark, Ambient & Experimental Music
The music of David Wright is often categorized as "New Age", presumably because so called "experts" believe that harmonious
and melodic music can only be classified thus. Moving works like "Voices" by Vangelis and "The Songs of Distant Earth" by
Mike Oldfield were also wrongly catalogued as being New Age. The simple truth is though, these works are quite simply jewels of tenderness
and authentic classics of the modern era! And "Walking with Ghosts" sits equally alongside these mythical works and will exceed
the wear of time because of the beauty, emotion and originality contained on the album.
A strident synth opens "Going Down", where the reverberations stretches in fine loops, flooding whispered voices in a strange atmosphere. This dark intro is abruptly awakened by the sharp percussions of "A Certain Malaise", which open the doors to a more intense rhythm. The first 5 tracks present a sort of galactic western flavour with Bil Kibby's superb guitar, slamming percussions and layers of floating synths. A twangy guitar melts into a stroboscopic sequencer on "Road to Nowhere", where Andy Lobban’s glorious guitar enhances the melodious themes, and percussion and a galloping rhythm are overlaid with a spectral synth and a syncopated sequencer and a stunning synthesized lead line. "Midnight in the Shadow of Temptation and Delight" slows down the tempo with a floating atmosphere and a bluesy guitar. Beautiful gliding pads and the cry of a solitary guitar are joined by a progressive bass which rebuilds the rhythm for "Return of the Nomad", a title definitely more intense, with delirious percussion, beautiful floating synth layers and furious guitar solos. A striking start, where 17 minutes fly by like a bat out of hell.
"Beyond Paradise" and "Night Moves" are two titles of supreme magnetism. A beautiful theremin melody with harmonious sequencing gives a heartbreaking theme that touches the soul. The mellotrons strings raise the hairs on the back of the neck with the kind of softness to bring you to tears. And when you think you've reached the pinnacle of sensitivity, a saxophone gently whispers its spectral breath to make us sigh and take us even higher. This is a ballad to take you over the edge. Absolutely sublime.
After this heartrending and emotional passage, we enter the atmospheric phase of Walking with Ghosts, with "Darklands". A beautiful piano, wrapped in layers of synths and strings is used to guide us. Although Melodious, its style is minimalism, and it cleverly uses strange and gentle sound effects, as if drifting through a parallel world of nostalgia.
Synthetic sighs invisibly connect us to the next track, where the ghostly violin of Ciona Lee harmonises with the guitar of Andy Lobban on "Flame Sky". A very atmospheric title with a strange but highly effective strummed Eastern percussion.
Andy Lobban's superb guitar accompanies us again on "No More Angels", a dark and almost foreboding piece. Although it's full of atmosphere and shadows, it also has an unsettling beauty. Slowly building on layers of strings added to by mellotron, lonely piano and a solitary sax. "Too late now!" Concludes this portion in a strange, atmospheric effects cloud, opening the door to Walking with Ghosts, the title track.
Bird song and church bells pave the way to part 1 "Penumbra", a melodious piano which enchants by its clearness and its classical sonority. So beautiful, so sublime yet so sad, and we understand why because the artist wrote this music after September 11th. Woven in
the shade of a delicate, organ like synth with dark sonorities, this superb musical serenade flows with delicate harmony, added to by gentle and subtle celestial voices. The dream stops abruptly and we're in to part two, "The Gift", which embraces a syncopated sequence
where the orchestrations are joined by Bill Kibby's excellent lead guitar. The track develops a Jarre like pacing and is joined by a weaving bass line, again courtesy of Bill Kibby. An animated rhythm builds, developing the themes, now joined by strong synth lead line that fades into a rain storm and crosses divinely, with melancholy piano and guitar, back to the beautiful melody that introduced us to this walk with ghosts. We hear again the beauty of the main theme in part 3 "Acheron", reaching a soft finale which tears at our soul before moving into the the big orchestration finale of the final part "C'est la Vie" which makes this walk with ghosts, the most beautiful of walks.
I have discovered this album 5 years after its release. So if, by reading this review, you understand that my ears have enjoyed and described a pure masterpiece, then you must seek out and own this album.
Dissimilar Views 2 - The Korce Project
The
Korce Project originated in 1994 as a charity project in conjunction with The Body Shop and David Wright recorded an album's worth of material after 'Moments in Time' which was designed to be sold as a fund raising effort for the desperately poor children in Albania. The music was intended to reflect the experiences of a group of volunteers working with the children and was originally intended to feature alongside the poetry of Keith Bromley, the project originator, and be available from The Body Shop and selected outlets.
Unfortunately, through no fault of the composer, the project fell through but a limited edition music cassette (AD8MC Ltd. Edition) was circulated. I was fortunate to get a copy and, in my view, the material was at least as good as other material from this period and an interesting progression from 'Moments in Time'. The cassette because of its limited availability became quite collectable and also contained the first Fox/Wright collaboration, 'Meeting at Trevalyn'. Some of the music from the Korce Project appeared on 'Dissimilar Views' in different versions (AD9CD) but new material was also included most notably the extended music which comprised the title piece. Hence this double CD set which includes 'Dissimilar Views', the main Korce Project suite in its entirety with 14 minutes of additional music, new extended, and alternative versions and other unreleased material digitally re mastered.
Reassessing 'Dissimilar Views' it is clear that it represented a change of direction for David Wright a transition into different directions although retaining key elements from the early period romanticism. Sequences play an important role on tracks such as the longer version of 'Albania Part1' and 'Turning Tides' and the 2 versions of the excellent 'Rysheara' which remains a David Wright classic. 'Korce' with its restless, strident theme and rock percussion is a fine addition to the repertoire and 'Room of Dolphins' offers a perfectly chilled oasis of tranquility with some fine arpeggios and piano work. 'Benny's Theme' tugs at the heart strings with subtle instrumental work and delicate textures, whilst 'Embarou Bay' offers a more optimistic travelogue. The set concludes with 'Returning Tides' clocking in at just under the 10 minute mark it typifies the high quality of the unreleased material throughout.
This commendable release shows how prolific David Wright's output was at this time. Rest assured if you are unfamiliar with the Korce material and a fan of David Wright in general and 'Dissimilar Views' in particular this is a fine collection and fills a gap in the composer's
musical curriculum vitae.
