A budding singer/songwriter in those wide-eyed and innocent years (including many appearances at the Half Moon acoustic session in Putney) he has not seriously pursued a recording career until relatively recently. He would be the first to admit vocal limitations as the prime reason for this, as demonstrated by his refusal to officially release an album of material entitled Anachronisms recorded in 2002.
Despite this apparent impasse the urge to write and record proved irresistible. So, he decided to follow the path of benevolent musical dictatorship and direct others in order to perfect his musical vision: Ascendant was born.
Through his own artistic contacts and those of his co-producer and friend (the ever supportive and enthusiastic) Andrew Holdsworth, he procured the talents of eight singers to take vocal leads on the album, along with a select bunch of highly skilled instrumentalists to bring the best out of his subtle arrangements. His own piano contributions were recorded one rainy summer’s day on a full-size Bosendorfer in the Grand Hall at Dulwich College, South London.
This neo-classical song-cycle owes as much to boundary pushing acts like This Mortal Coil and Kate Bush as it does to contemporary composers such as Gavin Bryars and Michael Nyman. The arrangements shimmer with romantic textures yet the songs themselves display strong elements of alt-rock, folk and cabaret. Ghostly fragments of themes from elsewhere on the album introduce each one, melding the work into a near-continuous whole. The overall effect is dark, poised and cinematic.
The front and rear artwork is taken from paintings by Tamara Dubnycnyj - a graduate from the RCA, London. More of her work can be seen at her website.