Soord, Bruce: All This Will Be Yours

Yeovil isn’t the most salubrious town in the UK but it is home to The Pineapple Thief frontman Bruce Soord. It is also one of two main juxtaposing inspirations for his second solo album, All This Will Be Yours - the other emotional push behind this release being Soord’s third child. As the composer travelled through his hometown so he saw the contrast between the unconditional love, joy and hope from his daughter and the world unfolding around her: drug dens, screaming children and the constant wail of sirens. Hence the double edged title, All This Will Be Yours. Is it fair of us to leave this world for our children to try to navigate, stumble through and hopefully repair?

It may seem like an odd time for a solo outing from Soord, his main band continuing to expand their fanbase both at home and in America as ex-Porcupine Tree metronome Gavin Harrison adds both his timely talent and the weight of his monicker to the cause. With a live album literally about to be unleashed from The Pineapple Thief and a North American tour also being embarked upon, is a solo diversion going to prove just that? The truth of the matter is that Soord simply had to get all of this off his chest, so inspired was he to explore the hopes and dashed dreams that he saw playing against one another. It makes for an evocative journey and whether now is exactly the right time for this album or not, we should simply be thankful that it’s here.

Incorporating many of the sounds that he encountered on his walks round Yeovil, Soord infuses a mesmerising set of songs with his own recordings of things like children on their way to school, an old gentleman singing just outside his house and those aforementioned sirens… the oft heard, ever concerning, possibly live saving sirens. Even with this new factor, one thing’s for sure and certain here, you simply couldn’t confuse this album as coming from anyone else. Touching points being Soord’s own song writing of recent years, with collections such as Someone Here Is Missing, Magnolia and Dissolution clearly used as a base from which something utterly new, yet familiar, develops. All This Will Be Yours being just a little more minimal, more contained and more observational, with acoustic guitar allowed to take centre stage alongside programmed themes, deep bass rumbles and vocals which stand proud while never being afraid to show the vulnerability that underpins it all.

Switch the lights off, or take the car on a long night drive and soak this album in and the experience is heightened to near overwhelming proportions. The distractions of the day put in sharp focus as Soord veers from the outpouring of love that new life provides against the deep melancholy that eventually this nurtured individual will become independent, free thinking and strong. All of which occurs while we’re still unwittingly susceptible to the world around us and the danger, drama and, indeed, opportunities that provides. There’s no disguising that it makes for an experience where every exhale ebbs away with just the smallest hint of sombreness.

All This Will Be Yours isn’t a sad album, nor is it a self pitying journey, instead it simply admits that life’s path is shaped not just through the changes and choices we make but on the decisions of others and how they directly and indirectly impact upon us. That voyage may be one fraught with unseen danger, however what Bruce Soord has laid out for us here is undoubtedly something to rejoice in as it simultaneously challenges us to look deep into the soul of the modern world.

Track Listing
1. The Secrets I Know
2. Our Gravest Threat Apart
3. The Solitary Path Of A Convicted Man
4. All This Will Be Yours
5. Time Does Not Exist
6. One Misstep
7. You Hear The Voices
8. Cut The Flowers
9. One Day I Will Leave You

Added: April 15th 2020
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Bruce Soord online
Hits: 1213
Language: english

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