Sir Richard Bishop - Polytheistic Fragments

  by Andrew Carver

published: 21 / 9 / 2007

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Review

Sir Richard Bishop made his name with the Sir Richard Bishop made his name with the ethnic avant-garde outfit Sun City Girls. With that band closed following the death of drummer Charles Gocher, Bishop has embarked on a prolific solo career, with no less than four albums released since 2006. ‘Polytheistic Fragments’ offers more high-grade guitar instrumentals that follow in the footsteps of Leo Kottke, Robbie Basho, John Fahey and other lone acoustic wizards. ‘Cross My Palm With Silver’ puts Bishop’s guitar chops with its flurry of flamenco style notes and speeding picking and strumming. Like many of the album’s tracks it has a Spanish flavour. ‘Rub’ Al Kali’ covers similar territory. Although the album is a solo work, Bishop does use multiple takes to allow him to play a melody line over chords, as in the brisk ‘Elysium Number 5’ and other tracks. Some pieces creep closer to the avant garde: the slide and drone of ‘Hecate’s Dream’. Other tracks draw on the American music tradition, like ‘Free Masonic Guitar’, a more rough and tumble, bluesy effort and the gentle, bucolic ‘Tennessee Porch Swing’. The choogling ‘Canned Goods and Firearms’ goes electric with some speedy bluegrass picking. It’s not all guitars: ‘Cemetery Gates uses hand drums and piano and Saraswati also stays away from the six strings, relying instead on single-note piano over an eastern drone for hypnotic effect. ‘Ecstasies in The Air’ concludes the album with wind and strings coming close to Ennio Morricone territory. ‘Polytheistic Fragments’ is a nice continuation of Bishop’s Sun City Girls work; it’s a pleasant, thoughtful melodic album with an intriguing blend of east and west. . With that band closed following the death of drummer Charles Gocher, Bishop has embarked on a prolific solo career, with no less than four albums released since 2006. ‘Polytheistic Fragments’ offers more high-grade guitar instrumentals that follow in the footsteps of Leo Kottke, Robbie Basho, John Fahey and other lone acoustic wizards. ‘Cross My Palm With Silver’ puts Bishop’s guitar chops with its flurry of flamenco style notes and speeding picking and strumming. Like many of the album’s tracks it has a Spanish flavour. ‘Rub’ Al Kali’ covers similar territory. Although the album is a solo work, Bishop does use multiple takes to allow him to play a melody line over chords, as in the brisk ‘Elysium Number 5’ and other tracks. Some pieces creep closer to the avant garde: the slide and drone of ‘Hecate’s Dream’. Other tracks draw on the American music tradition, like ‘Free Masonic Guitar’, a more rough and tumble, bluesy effort and the gentle, bucolic ‘Tennessee Porch Swing’. The choogling ‘Canned Goods and Firearms’ goes electric with some speedy bluegrass picking. It’s not all guitars: ‘Cemetery Gates uses hand drums and piano and 'Saraswati' also stays away from the six strings, relying instead on single-note piano over an eastern drone for hypnotic effect. ‘Ecstasies in The Air’ concludes the album with wind and strings coming close to Ennio Morricone territory. ‘Polytheistic Fragments’ is a nice continuation of Bishop’s Sun City Girls work; it’s a pleasant, thoughtful melodic album with an intriguing blend of east and west.

Track Listing:-

1 Cross My Palm With Silver
2 Hecate's Dream
3 Elysium Number Five
4 Rub' al Khali
5 Free Masonic Guitar
6 Cemetary Games
7 Quiescent Return
8 Saraswati
9 Tennessee Porch Swing
10 Canned Goods & Firearms
11 Ecstasies In The Open Air

Label Links:-

http://www.dragcity.com/
https://twitter.com/dragcityrecords
https://www.facebook.com/dragcityrecor