Sir Richard Bishop – Oneiric Formulary
Drag City (DC769) – 17 April 2020
Once the title of guitarist Sir Richard Bishop’s first album in five years is understood – the set forms of dreams or dreaming – the structure and sound of this dense, vastly varied sounding album can be better understood. With such a slippery, contradictory header, it’s perfectly appropriate to treat us to such a challenging, surprising and thrilling sound. Indeed, no two tracks here sound the same, and the record itself is incomparable and inimitable, at least to these ears. In some ways, parts of it remind of Daniel Bachman’s Morning Star album, but only in its errant and sometimes provocative nature. However, Oneiric Formulary amps this approach and focus many degrees. Take ‘Graveyard Wanderers’ as an example; at just shy of nine minutes, it’s the longest piece here and is more a sound installation than a piece of music, something I think I remember saying about Bachman’s opening ‘Invocation’ track, from the above album. Here, electronic buzzes and strange, spectral, alien and wet sounds mix with bleeps and whines to create something genuinely unnerving in places. It’s also rather amazing and bold, a statement applicable to the album as a whole.
Of course, though, there is also wonderful guitar music here, which is to be expected from a player as reputable as Sir Richard. Second track ‘Celerity’, coming in just after the electronic high notes of opener ‘Call to Order’, is a frenetic strummed acoustic piece, quite anxious in its form and tempo and insistent in its structure for just shy of four minutes. Later and following on from the slightly crazed and almost tribal sound of bagpipe work out ‘Dust Devils’ comes ‘Enville’, a solo acoustic guitar piece reminiscent of his ‘By Any Other Name’ tune from Tompkins Square’s Ten Years Gone Jack Rose tribute album. This piece has all of the hallmarks of a classic piece of American Primitive (if we still label it this) guitar music and it is played with all of the confidence and style expected of Bishop. Cleverly, ‘Enville’ is joined next by ‘Black Sara’, another piece of solo acoustic music, but this time far more connected to his Tangier Sessions album, one recorded during a week staying in the city and celebrating the purchase of his beautiful nineteenth-century parlour guitar – surely the same instrument being played on this track. Moving seamlessly from a traditional American guitar style to one seeped in the sound of Spain and Morocco is a joy to listen to. Bishop is a musical explorer, has been since his days with Sun City Girls, and when he switches styles with the most basic of musical tools, a single guitar, his skill and experience shine bright.
That said, there is so much here to enjoy that doesn’t rely upon the simplicity of the acoustic guitar. Take ‘Mit’s Linctus Codeine Co.’ (which recently premiered on Folk Radio), an electric guitar band song with attitude and sleaze to spare, or, possibly my favourite, ‘Renaissance Nod’. I’m not even sure which instrument Sir Richard is playing on this one; it could be a de-tuned guitar or some kind of hammered string affair, but the six-minute piece it creates is one of spacious beauty and sonic depth. The range of mood and emotion Bishop manages to coax on this slowly played track is another example of his musical and artistic prowess. But, as I’ve said throughout this review, there are examples aplenty to illustrate this, and it all shows how diverse a record Oneiric Formulary is. Towards the end of the album, we have ‘The Coming of the Rats’, a moody electric guitar piece with a scratchy backing track just detectable and a dramatic effected slide line sweeping across the whole thing. It sounds like a great one to play and is a delight to hear. In comparison, final track ‘Vellum’ takes us back to ‘Black Sara’ and Tangier Sessions territory, with a complex, picked guitar pattern, especially in the last third, when Sir Richard starts letting loose. It’s a bold and abrupt way to end the album, but then this one is certainly not trying to do anything predictable, and the result is a roller-coaster of a success. What a crazed, beautiful and brilliant riot of a record.
Oneiric Formulary released 17 April via Drag City
Pre-Order: https://www.dragcity.com/products/oneiric-formulary
Photo Credit: Alan Bishop