ANDREW WASYLYK - Irreparable Parables

A longtime master of daring pairings between chamber-folk and spiritual jazz, Andrew Wasylyk, already frontman of Hazey Janes and bassist in Idlewild, enlists a rich cast of vocalists for the most accessible work of his solo career, without ever giving up the complex, erudite interplay between parallel sonic worlds.

The Scottish musician draws on his usual instrumental fabric of malleable, porous, hypnotic-melodic nature: strings, winds, vibraphone, mellotron, fender rhodes and a typical pop-rock setup shape an unusual, refined blend of orchestral jazz and neo-classical music, with folk references slotting naturally into a multicoloured mosaic.

The role played by the vocalists enlisted for "Irreparable Parables" is more significant than it might seem at first glance. Although they recorded their parts entirely independently, the artists were involved in the lyric-writing process. Stuart Murdoch of Belle And Sebastian opens the album with "Private Symphony #2", a refined, piano-led ballad with chamber-folk tones that places music itself at the centre as a creative act, setting the tone for a series of compositions marked by sorrow ("The Cold Collar" with Gruff Rhys), at times exotic and skilfully touched by electronics ("Hachi No Su" with Saya of Tenniscoats), but also complex and prone to spirited pop-prog excursions ("In Portmanteau" with Field Music); what remains constant is the inspiration that animates even the more unusual pieces, such as the title track.

For those nostalgic for the abstract synergies of neo-classical, ambient and jazz that define Wasylyk's work, the ever-alchemical instrumental tracks - "Road To The Amber Room", "Soul Enters The Ocean Sun Climbs Out The Sea" - are there to bind together the many voices.

Credit must go to Andrew Wasylyk for defying some fundamental rules for the success of a project as complex as "Irreparable Parables". However cohesive, the album is rich in variables, both emotional and conceptual, and within this dazzling puzzle two moments of pure enchantment emerge with real force: the first is offered by the alternating wonder and awe of the vibrant celebration of trumpets, voices, strings and shifting rhythms in "Love Is A Lie That Lasts Forever" (with vocals by Molly Linen), the other is represented by the extraordinary vocal performance of Kathryn Joseph in "Spectators In The Absence Of God", a poignant reflection on human suffering, delivered with a musical sacredness that seems to have stepped out of a Robert Wyatt record, with winds and strings moving with solemn tread while the other instruments remain locked into an obsessive periodicity: a pearl perfectly set within an album of rare beauty.

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20/03/2026