Basil Kirchin - Particles

Parting shot from multitalented cult British composer

This CD contains the prescient Basil Kirchin’s very final work. At 77 years of age, half blind and at death’s door, he was still furiously inventive and invigorated by the great fascination in his rare old scores and suites that recent reissues had aroused. This last album is largely composed of sonic abstracts, including the remarkable Concept Suite, a fiveminute conversation between several people transplanted into music, with horns mimicking the sounds of human voices. Bizarre, yet oddly engaging.

The only two tracks with any tangible jazz structure open and close the album and the final, uplifting piece, E + Me (named for Basil’s wife and himself) is poignant indeed: Basil died the week after recording was complete, followed by Esther just after the CDs were pressed. Though perhaps not the most accessible starting point for an appreciation of Kirchin’s gifts (the dazzling Abstractions Of The Industrial North, also on Trunk, is the one to grab you) it is an arresting and meaningful swansong from one of our most undervalued musical inventors.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Trunk | JBH 021 CD

Reviewed by Daddy Bones
<< Back to Issue 336

You might also like:

Login Here

Free Newsletter


Subscribe to
our email newsletter by emailing:

anna.bowen@
metropolis.co.uk