If I had to emote one single word to explain Dave Bainbridge's solo album- Veil of Gossamer- it world be- Beautiful, but then- I couldn't use the word breathtaking- but I did, so there. LOL! From start to finish, the Cd exudes a visual message of timeless beauty. The album's concept is based on an event in the life of Saint Cuthbert. Joined by fellow past and present members of Iona (Bainbridge co-founded the group), as well as Gaelic singer Mae McKenna and Rachel Jones (from the band Karnataka), and other guests.
David Bainbridge- born in 1959, is a master of both guitar (electric and acoustic), as well as keyboards and piano (and additional traditional/medieval instruments). Dave learned his craft from the Leeds College of Music.
On the title track, the fusion of Bainbridge's piano and William Schofield's cello is breathtaking, then becomes heightened by the addition of whistles and tasteful use of percussion. A delicate gorgeous piece worthy of being classical film soundtrack material. That doesn't mean that Mr. Bainbridge can't mix it up with some amazing Celtic-based prog and push up the dynamics. `The Everlasting Hills,' the albums longest track (19:47 run time broken into 5 sections), and showcases Brainbridges solo piano work, monster chops on the guitar and driving finale which features a great rhythm section and finally beautiful dreamy piano. Bainbridge creates the dreamy, power and the timeless and fuses it into honest unforced work. You can tell he loves music and isn't afraid to showcase his ability (as well as others), but not at the penalty of hurting his compositions.
The final large track is `Star-filled Skies,' which exceeds fourteen minutes in length; to me emotes ancient Britain with fantastic castles and beautiful maidens gathering flowers in a classic English landscape. Each of the four parts of the piece illustrate a different texture as well as an emotion. A breathtaking and beautifully powerful piece.
Did I say beautiful too many times in this review? So what! Listen to this album and you will agree. Bainbridge (and Iona) are miles above the more commercial Celtic sound that has been flooded the new age bins in America.
The only criticism I can mention is not musical but visual- the album cover. Dave says that the artist knew nothing about the concepts and music that Bainbridge was producing and unfortunately it shows. The beauty and creativity of the music is not reflected in the cover art (and though the textile might be as successful piece as a textile it makes poor cover art), but luckily the music will always stand up at a wonderful piece of musical mastery at it's height! I can not wait for a follow up Dave.
Rated 9.3/10
