John Holden: 'Rise and Fall' (2020)

[Iris]

'Capture Light' is one of my favourite releases from the last few years. I have listened to it many times. John Holden seeks to buttress pieces of lyrical depth in warm, gentle, often very beautiful music. He succeeded with his first album. He has succeeded again.

Anyone who has visited Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire will know that it is a magical place. A stained glass window there, depicting a medieval monk's attempt at flight, inspired the opening track 'Leap of Faith'. It's a rich tapestry, like so many of the compositions on this album. Holden has conscripted the support of an array of established and upcoming talent from the prog world. Whilst there are terrific guitar solos from the likes of Michel St-Pere and Zaid Crowe, it is the vocal arrangements that stand out. Holden has once again recruited Joe Payne, one of the most talented singers in this genre ...... and when his voice combines with other singers, particularly female voices, the results are just gorgeous. Payne and the guitarist he works with Oliver Day are integral to this project, but it has to be said that Holden and Payne complement each other perfectly. They really were born to work with each other.

This is a self-funded album, and Holden has also paid for a full page ad in Prog (which also runs an interview with him on the opposite page). Clearly he's not in it for the money, but simply for the music. He's a great addition to the prog genre. Let's hope he's in it for the long game.

[Yestor]

Joe Payne's vocals on 'Capture Light' are remarkable. I see Oliver Wakeman adds his very tasteful keyboards. I'm going to check out the John Holden recordings further. I quite like what I have heard.

[Iris]

It's his best work since he left the Enid. Every one of the Holden/Payne collaborations are just exquisite.

[Yestor]

Sadly I see where Joe Payne died January 24th of this year.

[Michelle Johnston]

The language of Prog Rock tends to be about players and playing. So unsurprisingly the framing of John Holden's music within the Prog Rock Universe is about the guest artists and their playing. To me its much more straight forward its the music and what it does to me.

The two Oliver's (Day and Wakeman) are key to the "John Holden musical personality" but Rise and Fall benefits from Vikram Shanker's writing and playing and Nick D"Virgilio's incredibly sympathetic performance.

This Joe Payne is very much alive and well and those who have followed his career know he is a classically trained singer which fits the vibe of this beautiful graceful music but then Jean Pageau offers as he did on Capture Light a great performance. You might think using several guest vocalists gives the project a compendium feel but because John Holden's musical vision is so strong that sense of a singular musical vision is retained.

My thoughts about the music are at my blog.

http://loveofyesmusic.blogspot.com

To borrow and paraphrase Brian Lane from 1989, if you didn't like Capture Light you will hate this.