Richard Skelton is a British musician. Following the death of his wife Louise in 2004, he began to make music as a way of coming to terms with the tragedy. Using a number of instruments, notably guitar and violin, his music has been compared to Arvo Pärt amongst others. His recordings explicitly reference places of emotional resonance, specifically the West Pennine Moors, and the area around the sparsely populated parish of Anglezarke. His album Landings has been compared to Brian Eno's Ambient 4: On Land in its evocation of place and memory. Skelton even goes so far as to include artefacts, such as twigs and alder catkins, from significant places in the packaging of his releases.
Most of Skelton's releases have been issued by his own Sustain-Release label - under a range of pseudonym's including A Broken Consort, Carousell, Clouwbeck, Heidika and Riftmusic, as well as under his own name - in small editions of CDs with hand-crafted packaging, and often including fragments of poetry. However, some of Skelton's work has attained wider commercial and critical success.
In 2011, Skelton archived the material he had released on the Sustain-Release. A box set of his complete recordings to date, titled *SKURA and totalling 20 discs of music, followed. Skelton announced that future editions of both his music and writing would be released on the Corbel Stone Press imprint. The first release was Wolf Notes, a collaboration with his new partner, Autumn Richardson, under the name *AR. The album was released on January 1st 2011. To date, a number of print works and another musical collaboration with Richardson, Stray Birds, have been issued. Two more music works are scheduled for release in mid-2012.
Until 2010, Skelton lived in Standish, near Wigan, before relocating to the west coast of Ireland.
Richard Skelton - *SKURA
Complete Works, 2005-2011
“I felt very light, completely unmoored, unconnected with everything,” Richard Skelton told Wire magazine earlier this year. Seven years ago, following the death of his wife, Skelton retreated to the West Pennine Moors, composing music alone in an attempt to ground his ever more spectral existence in the tangibility of the landscape. He explored the physicality of his instruments, restringing his violin with progressively heavier gauge strings until he could positively feel each note reverberating through his body. Skelton set up the Sustain-Release label and began releasing albums in beautifully handcrafted packages, often including souvenirs of pine cones or scraps of bark to preserve the essence of the music’s physical origin.Sustain-Release is now described by Skelton as an “archive” and the entirety of the label’s releases are collected together here in a single set. Standing as a monument to the memory of a loved one, *SKURA is heavily laden with a sense of grief and loss. On the sparse and striking Marking Time, Skelton laments the constant distancing of himself from his past as insistent piano figures are slowly enveloped in shimmering waves of mourning strings. The skeletal arrangements demonstrate a canny appreciation of restraint, affording Skelton the space to explore his themes without resorting to emotional pathos.That said, of the triplet of albums released under his Clouwbeck moniker, the first, A Moraine, strikes a slightly uneven balance. Paring his palette down to its one essential component, Skelton constructs a gently lulling mass of ambient strings and, whilst certainly a pleasant listen, the overly reserved feel of A Moraine (virtually amelodic, relying solely on subtle, droning harmonies) renders it somewhat anonymous. The latter two Clouwbeck releases are more expansive in their vision, providing an emotional foothold that was previously lacking; Wolfrahm’s a dense knot of strings is haunted by shards of half-remembered melody, and From Which The River Rises is awash with swells of orchestral majesty. These are exquisite recordings: desolate and generously spacious, sounding almost as if they’re drifting directly in from the vast West Pennine Moors.The story of Skelton’s development as told by *SKURA is one of persistent refinement rather than constant innovation, with the Clouwbeck releases providing a microcosm of this steady progression. Yet the overall sweep of his work is best represented by 2009 album, Landings. Opening with the stark, blustery ‘Noon Hill Wood’, which highlights the power and grace of his metallic, sweeping violins, Landings distils Skelton’s sound down to its absolute emotional core. The record acts almost as a summary of Skelton’s entire output on Sustain-Release – from the intimate, lonely guitar of ‘Scar Tissue’ to the cavernous atmospherics of ‘The Shape Leaves’ – but throughout the musical language is so direct, so uncluttered that nowhere does this large-scale work seem to meander or overindulge. On Landings, and indeed the entirety of *SKURA, it is Skelton’s unflinching sincerity and the understated eloquence of his musical communication which enables him to transform such preoccupations with loss and decay into beautiful, captivating works of steady healing and cautious hope.
- Richard Skelton - *SKURA (2012) - 320 Kbps
*SKURA consists of:
- Heidika - There Is No Cure & Other Songs (2005) - 320 Kbps
- Carousell - A Dead Bridges Into Dust (2005) - 320 Kbps
- Harlassen - A Way Now (2006) - 320 Kbps
- Carousell - Landings (2006) - 320 Kbps
- A Broken Consort - The Shape Leaves (2006) - 320 Kbps
- Riftmusic - Riftmusic (2007) - 320 Kbps
- A Broken Consort - Box of Birch (1st Edition) (2007) - 320 Kbps
- Clouwbeck - A Moraine (2007) - 320 Kbps
- A Broken Consort - Crow Autumn (Part One) (2007) - 320 Kbps
- Heidika - Tide of Bells & the Sea (2007) - 320 Kbps
- A Broken Consort - Box of Birch (2nd Edition) (2008) - 320 Kbps
- A Broken Consort - Crow Autumn (Part Two) (2009) - 320 Kbps
- Carousell - Black Swallow & Other Songs (2009) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Landings (2009) - 320 Kbps
- Clouwbeck - From Which the River Rises (2010) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Marking Time (2011) - 320 Kbps
- Clouwbeck - Wolfrahm (2011) - 320 Kbps
- A Broken Consort - Crow Autumn (2011) - 320 Kbps
- Dyad (Crow Autumn bonus disc) (2011) - 320 Kbps
- *SKURA, A collection (2011) - 320 Kbps
See also other Richard's releases:
- Autumn Grieve & Richard Skelton - Stray Birds (2009) - 192 Kbps
- *AR - Wolf Notes (2011) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Black Combe (2011) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Ridgelines (2012) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Verse Of Birds (2012) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Limnology (2012) - 320 Kbps
- Riftmusic - Riftmusic (part two) (2013) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - An Ash-Tree Which the Ignorant Call Holy (2013) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Ivystrung (2013) - 320 Kbps
- *AR - Succession (2013) - 320 Kbps
- *AR - Echoless (2013) - 320 Kbps
- Richard Skelton - Form Themselves Into Streams (2014) - 320 Kbps
- The Inward Circles - Nimrod Is Lost in Orion and Osyris in the Doggestarre (2014) - 320 Kbps
- *AR - Diagrams for the Summoning of Wolves (2015) - 320 Kbps
- The Inward Circles - Belated Movements For An Unsanctioned Exhumation August 1st 1984 (2015) - 320 Kbps
- *AR - Memorious Earth (2015) - 320 Kbps
Ask for download links in comments.
..hi, how can I get the *SKURA download link???
ОтветитьУдалитьpleaseee?
*SKURA is here: pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6, pt. 7, pt. 8, pt. 9. Hope you'll enjoy it.
УдалитьGreat!!! Thank you...
ОтветитьУдалитьHello, may I have the liks for Verse of Birds and Limnology?
ОтветитьУдалитьThanks much in advance, this blog is one of the best things I've found this year!
Here is Verse of Birds pt. 1 & pt. 2, here is Limnology. Enjoy!
УдалитьCan i ask you for a major favor please? Would you sent me all links to bbbbcccc357@gmail.com. I'm a huge fan of Richard Skelton.
ОтветитьУдалитьMillion thanks!
ceejee
How about magnet link?
УдалитьThat's fine for me.
ОтветитьУдалитьThanks!
check your mail
УдалитьTHANK YOU!!
ОтветитьУдалитьSKURA re-upload please! Thank you very much.
ОтветитьУдалить*SKURA is here: pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt. 4, pt. 5, pt. 6, pt. 7, pt. 8, pt. 9
УдалитьI'd like:
ОтветитьУдалитьRiftmusic Pt. 2
and
*Ar - Succession if you have it.
Thanks in advance.
2013 - Riftmusic (Part Two)
УдалитьAR - Succession (2013)
Is it possible to have AR Echoless?
ОтветитьУдалитьThank you very much
Here it is
УдалитьThanks v much.....
УдалитьWould you please share Carousell - Black Swallow & Other Songs? Thank you so much.
ОтветитьУдалитьYour link
УдалитьWolf Notes please, Thanks in advance
ОтветитьУдалитьHere it is
УдалитьLooking for:
ОтветитьУдалитьThe Inward Circles - Belated movements for an unsanctioned exhumation (2015)
Thanks in advance.
Your link
УдалитьMuch appreciated. A great artist !
ОтветитьУдалитьThe Inward Circles--Nimrod Is Lost
ОтветитьУдалитьMassive gratitude!
Your link
УдалитьWould You please share AR - Diagrams for the Summoning of Wolves (2015)? Thank You very much/
ОтветитьУдалитьHere it is
УдалитьHello! Can you please post AR – Memorious Earth? Thank you.
ОтветитьУдалитьI'm looking for:
ОтветитьУдалитьLandings
Marking Time
Thank you for the existence of this amazing blog.