Ashley Reaks - Melancholia

by Lisa Torem

published: 30 / 3 / 2009

Label: Ashley Reaks
Format: CD

intro

Stunning, totally captivating third album frm English visual artist, stand-up comedian and singer-songwriter Ashley Reaks which merges together elements of electronica, rock, jazz and African and Indian music

Ashley Reaks flaunts the kind of maddening genius usually reserved for Dutch impressionists who puncture their ears. Okay, so Reaks is from England, but he is still a mad Renaissance man. Besides singing, playing guitar and composing, he is a visual artist who paints vividly, and has been known to wear a sheep's mask during his stand-up comedy routines. In the 90’s he sang for Young Young 28, a dark-pop band, before pursuing the art of recording. His first release, 'Children Rule', produced in 2003 and marketed as an” album of melancholy pop songs”, revealed his flip side – there his vocals and songwriting abilities were compared to an early Sir Paul due to his choirboy vocals and innocent lyrics and there were definite Sergeant-Peppered moments. Then, in 2007, Reaks penned 'A Conglomeration of Jockstraps', "a mélange of poety, comedy and death rattles.” Now on his most recent release, 'Melancholia' (2008), Reaks presses hard with a palette knife to create blurred imagery, lavish texture and intoxicating expression though, unlike certain Dutch impressionists not on canvas. Here, Reaks experiments successfully with a myriad of genres layering reggae, African drumming, Indian vocalizations, electronica, jazz and spoken word, Jah Wobble bass and even scat-singing – performed by Maria Jaradottir - to his wizardly elixir. To a less skilled and innovative artist, this ambitious project may have failed, but because Reaks has opened his mind to such a cornucopia of influences – a heavy dose of minimalist Steve Reich, for example – he skilfully combines these elements, blurring the genre partitions. But equally powerful are Reaks’ lyrical passages… 'Sucker For Your Punishment' is one example. “You promise me the earth, but your promises are cheap, a big, bad wolf and a little lost sheep. I’m a sucker for your punishment, dance to the beat.” Swaddling these images together is a piercing instrumental hook alongside Reaks’ robust voice. This track has a hollow, hypnotic Gregorian chant-like vocal that edges its way insipidly into your cartilage before ravaging your bones. “The Swamp people they rose up screaming, caked in the filth and dirt from the past” and “ hope disappearing like piss down the drain” are interwoven with nonsense- syllables and electronica on 'The Swamp People'. Amid African drums, cacaphonous ambient noise and electronica, Reaks elevates the lyric to mythological proportions, though driving home the thought that we all corrode. There are no dull moments on this CD. But of the three instrumental tracks, 'Perpetual Motion', is a stand-out with a bright, expansive motif exploding, like a split atom, into auditory images. And it also prepares one for 'She Burns'. This spoken-word soliloquy interweaves Indian vocals between verses and culminates in a 'Tubular Bells' type -wonderland which juxtaposes the sexy, solitary saxophone of Ian Peak. Starting off with a dark, sinister bass line, Reak soons sings, “We lie down on all fours, with a leather blindfold over our eyes. She burns deep inside of me.” Along those lines, 'Melancholia' sets you off into a glorious dream-state by way of orchestra hits and a melody that floats your spiritual parachute over poppies and pink, sea-shell sand. 'White Man Sings The Blues' is another epiphany – “I wanted to sing her a love song, not white man sings the blues, but all my expectations are wearing a dead man’s shoes.” Peaks’ sexy sax trails Reaks’ explosive voice here. on 'His Floating Bones' Reaks sings,“Carol tosses up her skirt, there’s insects crawling inside of her.” Though the lyrics awaken your synapses, it’s the pulverizing bass, wind-up jewelery box motif ( the bedrock of Reich), reggae beat and ball-gripping, “Bollywood” ferocity that pleases. On the final track 'Prayer For The Living Dead' Reaks grabs the acoustic guitar and confides, “Don’t know what I’m doing, don’t know who I am, don’t know where I’m going, don’t know where to start…” This is followed by a luscious girlchoir chantsinging, “Please help me change my ways…” Part Pavlova, part Proust - you decide! Naming this CD, 'Melancholia' may be the only weakness here – when so much joy, pathos and “really deep thought” (a Tori Amos reference) bleed through the parchment of this bountiful masterpiece.

Track Listing:-

1 Sucker for Punishment
2 The Swamp People
3 Perpetual Motion
4 She Burns
5 I've Got Everything (That Nobody Wants)
6 Melancholia
7 White Man Sings the Blues
8 Puppy Fat
9 His Floating Bones
10 Prayer for the Living Dead

Band Links:-

http://www.ashleyreaks.com/
https://twitter.com/ashleyreaks
http://ashleyreaks.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/ashleyreaksart
https://ashleyreaks.bigcartel.com
https://www.youtube.com/user/ash231266

interviews

Interview (2023)

Harrogate multi-talent Ashley Reaks just released ‘Winter Crawls,’ which includes a host of well-known guests, superb imagery and one-off instrumental work. He updates Lisa Torem with the back stories.

Interview (2018)

Interview (2010)

Interview (2009)