To devise and pull off an astonishing performance of musical wonderment, with amazing dexterous ingenuity, once is a feat to be applauded. To repeat and improve upon it on numerous occasions is to establish oneself as a major player in any field of endeavour. Nick Fletcher satisfyingly achieves this on his ninth solo release, A Longing For Home. It is the summation of everything he has previously produced and then some. Cue drum roll (thank you, Anika), aided by masterful musicians including the aforementioned Anika Nilles (formerly of Jeff Beck), Bassist Jonathan Cuniado, Jan Gunnar Hoff and producer Caroline Bonnet on keys plus the ethereal vocal of Dikajee soaring spectrally on final track To Hear The Angels Sing, Fletcher’s musical aim hits the bullseye with an almighty twang.
He and his musical comrades in progressive jazz fusion flick out passages of notes like blazing sparks from their glowing creative furnace fashioning each track with a solid state of profound musicianship. The graceful power on Satori is opening proof as is the To Hear The Angels Sing that closes this ninth movement of recordings. In between, Fletcher has converged his estimable reputation as a classical guitarist, the proof here is the beautifully melancholic Joy Turning Into Sorrow, regularly undertaking recitals in churches and other noble venues, with his outstanding skills on the electric guitar.
All this would be only an intellectual endeavour if it were not for his emotive compositional talents that leads the curious listener through a myriad of musical passages that repeatedly reward. As of writing, my personal favourite tracks, play against each other on a listen-by-listen basis, are the piercing, down in the groove sonic play on The Secret Of Ascent, the impressive rhythmic patterns of Sitting In The Sunboat and the twisty musicianship to be found on The Sage, The Monk And The Scholar. Then again… A Longing For Home longs to be experienced multiple times.
Words by Paul Davies
