After a brief introductory instrumental, Way Beyond This opens this record on a real high. This is a breathtakingly beautiful song accompanied by an equally memorable video. It speaks of isolation and loneliness (“Caught in a world I don’t understand”) yet, despite the sense of feeling lost, the words reach out for connection. In a lockdown world, the track has a special poignancy. It features wistful vocals from Michael Clark, the son of the late Gavin Clark, one time member of the band ‘Clayhill’ which Ted Barnes formed with Ali Friend.
Ali Friend plays double bass and electric bass on this record, one of a number of collaborators that includes a string and brass section. Barnes himself sings on two songs while other guest vocalists are Sarah Johns (on Arrangements) and Kristinc McClement (on a curious sci-fi love song Metal Man).
Barnes has worked with Beth Orton for over ten years and you can hear where some of the languid melancholy of Orton’s music comes from.
This is an album of snapshots of memories featuring a mix of songs and instrumentals. In many ways, it seems like a soundtrack to a bitter-sweet love story. I imagine it as a score for a touching romantic drama full of longing looks and set amid the rolling hills and rugged coastline of a once merry England.
Melodic and atmospheric, this album has much to recommend it. If the rest of the disc were on a par with ‘Way Beyond This’, this would be a ten star review. Instead, the drifting pastoral themes are pleasant but no match for the emotional wrench it opens with.
