RICHARD SKELTON
Marking Time
PRE018
Preservation 2008
07 Tracks. 40mins54secs

Richard Skelton doesn’t mark time in the sense of someone wading through the nugatory paradise of the weekend, but of someone partaking in an attentive re-collection of moments, corroded and crumbling. There’s no point in progress in a work such as this. Skelton embraces entropy at a stroke and only continues to settle in. Simple structures, gilded with grating guitars, lined with piano and strings, led brusquely yet sensitively by Skelton’s downtrodden delivery, his mercurial way with arrangements and steadfast concentration, occasionally elevate these ruminative compositions beyond themselves.

The bulk of the works accrue weight and impact through the sparest of means, building grim and perilous environments through single guitar hits and sibilant string oscillations. There generally isn’t a lead instrument to speak of, the compositions are three-way (split between guitar, piano, and violin) and evenly balanced throughout. Even so, it’s an undeniable rush when one briefly stands out from the others. Heys is just such a piece. The composition first emphasizes texture, layers of grit running over hazy harmonics, until a violin half-reluctantly asserts its lonesome presence, stirring the piece with a staggering motion. It’s a heady, strong amalgamation, this album is, with something calamitous curdled in its core.

4/5

Richard Skelton (MySpace) | Preservation
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