Neal Heppleston
Plankton and the Whale Shark
Hopton Records
25 November 2022
West Yorkshire-based bass player and double bass maker Neal Heppleston’s first album, Folk Songs for Double Bass, contained eight traditional tunes arranged by Neal for double bass. For his second set, Neal has performed a U-turn and built a seven-song soundscape inspired by the ocean and building sound using a variety of instruments and a host of contributors. All but eschewing typical genres, the album focuses on delivering an immersive listening experience, with players dipping in and out of the music: Take the title track; Graham McElearney’s arpeggiating harp lines are the plankton here, ebbing and flowing while being softly smothered by Robert George Saull’s fuzzy electric guitar.
The first track, Siphonophore, is played at a similarly leisurely pace, but Guy Whittaker’s drums, along with Heppleston’s bass and Saull’s flute, lend this one an easy, minimalist jazz character. Ghost Ship, on the other hand, comes in with a wicked bass line that is joined by a driving drum beat and glistening electric guitar. Add to that synths, ghostly, screaming electronic distortion and shards of sax, and the result is a twisted carnival of a track, still with elements of jazz but more acid and free than the loose, airy nature of the first two songs.
Shifting things even further is the lovely, woozy Salt Dog, a song that swerves and sways as much as a ship at sea. Here Neal’s bass blends with his Casiotone, while Whittaker’s scattered drums and percussion and dbh’s uneasy violin add an eeriness and quite trippy, drunken feel to the song. In Fathoms uses clear piano notes to underpin the piece, but behind that, Nick Jonah Davis’s lapsteel and Jim Ghedi’s harmonium combine with Amelia Baker’s violin to create a swirling, beautifully strange and organic backdrop. Best of all is the closing track Ebisu, a song similar in character to Siphonophore in that it uses a flute to create the mood, but the sound is even looser here and quite magical in its light-as-air structure. Neal’s bass moves splendidly with Hayden Berry’s clarinet and the wonderful Sharron Kraus’s bamboo flute while subtle electronic sounds drift past. This wonderful song ends an album that is mesmerising in its weird beauty; a strange, hypnotic soundscape that will magnetise and bewitch.
“Plankton and the Whale Shark” will be released by Hopton Records on 25th November 2022 on Vinyl and Download. https://nealheppleston.bandcamp.com/album/plankton-and-the-whale-shark