Richard Shindell – Not Far Now

From the opening strains of the superbly recorded bouzouki and the unmistakable rich vocals that start ‘Parasol Ants’, it’s obvious that this, Shindell’s first collection of new songs in five years is going to demand your full attention.
The anticipation for a new disc has been high due to the strength of his previous work, where the combination of excellent guitar and vocals mix with vivid character led songs, and an unrivalled attention to detail and quality control.

He is a real master of the art of building songs, and there are few who use words so effectively and efficiently to illuminate the stories and motivations around their characters’ tales.  From the third-person narrative of an arrested small-time criminal held on the pavement (‘Parasol Ants’), to the first-person narrative of an addict’s struggle trying to be clean against the vivid backdrop of Bush’s State of the Union address (‘State of the Union’) there are few artists who craft songs so subtly, but with such a huge amount of theatre.

Recorded in his now home city of Buenos Aires, he provides much of the backing himself including acoustic, 12-string, electric and bass guitars, as well as bouzouki and piano.  The assembled musicians include Lucy Kaplansky, Lincoln Schliefer, Viktor Krauss, Sarah Milonovich and Brian Mitchell who all bring an array of talents to the songs; notably Lucy’s vocals on ‘A Juggler Out in Traffic’ and Brian Mitchell’s Hammond on ‘Gethsemani Goodbye’ and ‘Parasol Ants’.

He uses the bouzouki more than ever before on this disc, either on its own, or more often in conjunction with guitars, and it certainly adds an interesting layer to the sound, providing extra rhythm and energy across the album.  He’s also used his voice in different ways, there are some beautiful songs here that are sung with a real gentle touch, and these contrast against the appropriately unsentimental vocals of ‘State of the Union’, and the unique delivery of ‘Get Up Clara’.

The eleven songs here are as a thematically disconnected as you could imagine, rather than as chapters of the same book, think of them as a collection of one author’s short stories; where tales of a traveller and his mule in the Roman Empire (‘Get up Clara’), rub shoulders with a Balloon seller on the streets of Buenos Aires (‘Balloon Man’), and crooked land developers in the Southern United States (‘One Man’s Arkansas’).

Picking highlights is almost impossible, there are moments in songs that will reach out and hit individuals in different ways; the description of the Balloon Man’s rig is superb, the sketch of the president in ‘State of the Union’ will bring at least a smile to your face (if not a tear to your eye), and the whole atmosphere on ‘A Juggler Out in Traffic’ is beautifully painted in both lyrics and the arrangement.

Not an artist to be rushed, the wait for ‘Not Far Now’ has been reasonably lengthy, but it’s a price worth paying as the eleven songs are beautifully constructed and presented by one of, if not the finest of all contemporary singer/songwriters.

SHINDELL RICHARD - NOT FAR NOW