Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
To be nominated for an award is not an every-day occurrence, to produce a haunting unique sound that gives the soul one of those what hit me moments is perhaps even rarer, and yet for Simon Thacker and his impressive musical warriors that are by his side, the drawing of and the stories learned from the spiritual sense of sound and the elemental discovery that surrounds his new exploration in the debut album of Simon Thacker’s Ritmata, the outstanding Taradh.
Following on from the extraordinary Svara-Kanti, the composer tackles anew sphere of influence, one that encompasses the soul of Native America, the beauty of Indian music and its philosophy and other domains in which to explore is to acknowledge that you will always have a shadow somewhere and it is in that shadow we find what we can achieve without being tied to a certain past, that a masterpiece of modern creativity can exist.
If a work of art is to be judged by its visitors and onlookers alone, then we can surely see that we live in a world of dishonesty, and yet if we are willing to go beyond, to see outside of the frame, the closed opinion of the shadow soon compliments the listener, urges them to see the space that the musical sculpture takes up, then it is that end that each track captures what can only be described as the elemental, the figure out of control and the beauty of the Jazz style orchestration feeds upon.
Across the ethereal and the dynamic essence of burgeoning witchcraft and spells of delight lives the tracks Asuramaya, Honour The Treaties, Aurora Consurgens, Taijasa, Des Oge Mais, Egzortasyon, Muero Yo De Amor, Consus and Quadriga In 5 and the assured performances of Paul Harrison, Andrew Robb, Stu Brown, and special guest Angeles Toledano, all giving realisation to the sheer scope of imagination and fruitful balance offered by Simon Thacker.
Taradh is haunting, exquisite and the epitome of research into a new sphere of influence and the ability to paint a picture of exotic beauty; a new brush for a master still produces the sense of immortality.
Simon Thacker’s Ritmata Taradh is out now and available from Slap The Moon Records.
Ian D. Hall