Campbell, Neil: Faldum

Primarily known for his exquisite acoustic guitar work, composer Neil Campbell promised a flurry of activity during 2022 and so far, he has most certainly lived up to that claim. Hot on the heels of the wonderful EP Berlin Suite And Other Short Stories comes Faldum, a fully blown conceptual based instrumental album infused with strings and electronics, while there is yet Live In Prohibition still to come before the year is out.

Anyone who has followed Campbell’s work will already know the guitar mastery he brings to all of his releases but for me his collaboration with cellist Nicole Collarbone for the aforementioned Berlin Suite… was nothing short of a revelation, and with Faldum I’d be as bold as to say he has only gone and bettered it. Collarbone is once again in evidence across this instrumental journey, with Amy Chalmers adding violin and Jon Lawton drum programming and electronics. The main focus here, however, is the compositional skills on display, Campbell adapting the Herman Hesse short story Faldum - which is about the human condition, the passage of time and the importance and then futility of the decisions we all take throughout our lives - into a magnificent piece that not only conveys those ideas and emotions fantastically, but also proves a engaging listen on many other levels.

On my initial encounters with this album I was struck by the beauty and carefulness of its construction, but subsequent visits have further revealed a storytelling nature few instrumental recordings achieve without being much more blatant than what you’ll find here. The experience may well be split into eight tracks and three ‘movements’ (“Overture�, the six part “Faldum� itself and the closing “The Mountain�) but this is an offering about the journey and about the relationship between the instruments and those playing them.

Placing where this collection of music sits is pleasingly challenging, the notion to call it classical giving way to something more avant-garde in places and undoubtedly progressive in others. This is a change of tack compared to Campbell’s more recent output, but it does take me back to his 2014 Tabula Rasa Suite in intention, if not necessarily through its execution - and for the first time in my experience with this artist I’m minded to say that fans of considered fusion may link into some of the sounds here, while lovers of the more sedate end of Opeth, or Porcupine Tree might also have their attention snagged and then snared. However, at no point do we move outwit the bounds of the organic, acoustic strings, although Lawton does introduce some more atmospheric electronic flavours, subtle though they are.

Faldum is a fabulous album and one that truly crosses boundaries while staying completely true to its own path. Moving, involving and thought provoking, I’ve found it to have the ability to reward the listener at every single turn, and even more so the longer you live with it.

Track Listing
1. Overture (10:39)

2. Faldum One (3:03)

3. Faldum Two (4:00)

4. Faldum Three (3:57)

5. Faldum Four (3:24)

6. Faldum Five (4:06)

7. Faldum Six (3:14)

8. The Mountain (16:41)

Added: November 27th 2022
Reviewer: Steven Reid
Score:
Related Link: Neil Campbell @ bandcamp
Hits: 559
Language: english

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