Richard Skelton - The Second Chamber

A Closer Listen

We’ve been covering Richard Skelton for so long that our earliest reviews appeared on another site.  While the composert’s sound has evolved over the years, it has retained an elegiac, heartfelt quality. The Second Chamber celebrates the 20th anniversary of Skelton’s debut album on Sustain-Release.  Recorded over the past few years, the new set returns the artist to his early template of strings and reverberation, mixing elements of modern composition and drone.  Those new to Skelton’s work may perceive an uncommon lightness; veteran fans will embrace the nostalgia.

“emerge” is the perfect lead-off track, its title open to interpretation.  One may association the emergence with Skelton’s entry into the public realm, or with the emergence of harmonic sub-clusters and piano.  This sound was rare then and remains uncommon now.  “mosaic” demonstrates the restraint needed to make such patient, undulating music; at first, chords alternate with silence, and at one point even the echoes fade.  The mosaic is formed as other pieces are added, slowly yet deliberately.

The second chamber of the heart is the right ventricle; all together there are four.  One interprets the metaphor as a new stage of Skelton’s career, although there have been many leading up to this. The early releases were dedications born of loss; each also yielding an appreciation for nature and time.  Many arrived with scents and woodland ephemera.  As Skelton’s career blossomed, allusive poetry began to proliferate, while collaborative ventures increased.  In recent years, the Imperial Valley series has highlighted a deep disappointment in the failures of societies, especially regarding the treatment of the indigent.  And yet from the very start, Skelton’s music has been poised to head in any of these directions.  Seeing the cover art ~ not only here, but on recent releases ~ one sees an artist coming full circle, honoring the simplicity of those early covers, released under a variety of monikers.  The largest shift: a gradual evolution from grey to dark grey to black.

Despite the darkening colors and slow, enveloping timbres, light continues to poke through, first evident in the higher notes of “cascade” and resurfacng in the violins of “quills.”  These moments prevent the tone from crushing the listener.  From the very beginning, whether facing personal loss, environmental degradation or societal collapse, the artist has tried to be a faithful reporter without falling into despair.  These brighter moments may be flickering, but are also realistic and well-earned.  In its third minute, “hovering” reaches a higher volume, venturing into hope before billowing back down.  The closer, “weightless,” offers no answers, yet suggests a continuation of time and timbre, blood flowing into the second chamber, journey just begun.  (Richard Allen)