Lapse in Stillness – Matt John Henderson (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

The modern world is one of extremes, and that is especially true when you consider the work rate of musicians regarding their releases. At one end of the spectrum, we have grassroots artists who seem to release something almost weekly, as if their every musical utterance, every sonic thought needs to be mainlined into the public consciousness as soon as they have recorded it; on the other, established band may think nothing of leaving it half a decade between albums. In this world, Matt John Henderson‘s yearly album release feels like a balanced taste of another time.

Musically, too, he nods to the past, not so much that it feels overly nostalgic or too backwards glancing. His style of deft, finger-picked folk, upon which this new album, Lapse in Stillness, is based, is reminiscent of Nick Drake rather than more modern purveyors of the genre.

If the opener, “Hypnogogic Jerk”, owes something to Mark Hollis’ late era Talk Talk adventures, “Taboo Sunyata Sutra” blends eastern tabla beats with deftly picked English folk in the perfect meeting of Orient and Occident. “Gethsemane” is cloaked in haunting vocal treatments and seductive, late-night saxophone, a spacious and otherworldly experience that blends jazz drifts with folk cascades in a way that sounds as if it could have been found on John Martyn‘s seminal Solid Air.

“Speaking in Tongues” is an ever-evolving musing on how people hide behind and indeed get lost in, words and philosophy, beliefs and ideologies, a place where an acoustic, progressive vibe ebbs and flows with liquid blues guitar and chiming folk vibes, psychedelic density, and finally, drifting ambient strings. Will people ever learn? Chants would be a fine thing!

“In A Flux” seems to bridge 60’s flower pop and more deftly done modern soundscaping, touching on Davy Graham‘s unique musical approach but with Henderson taking this singular and signature sound down a path of his own making. Things round off with the title track, a shifting, shimmering ambient-progressive-folkscape full of hazy percussion and spacious atmospheres.

If a folk sound is the starting point for the album, it is, as is always the way, what is added to that base sound that makes this a stand-out album. As it stretches out gently and reaches into other genres, other forms, other sounds and styles, gathering intriguing sonics and mellifluous musicalities with which to infuse and embellish the music, you realise that Matt John Henderson is less someone who merely records albums of music but instead designs, instigates and builds whole new sonic worlds. Impressive ones at that!