... another oddity, it was a lost album ... Then 21 ideas sketched in 3 days! All after having written almost nothing for about two years ... '
The statement is by Paul Roland, one of the most complete and mysterious figures in the history of music (born in 1959). A writer, musician, journalist and scholar of paranormal phenomena who has chosen to give his art to the world also and above all through staves and textures.
Telling Paul Roland and his career is almost impossible: his music is hardly 'caged in a definition': rather it represents a complex interweaving of numerous musical styles, starting from the 1970s. Roland presents himself, during his solo career, in hard rock (almost metal) or songwriting (along the lines of Cohen even if with a dark vein), or, with the same ease, soft or art rock.
The album 'Lair of the White Worm' (to be released on 4 December 2020 now on presale in the Ma.Ra.Cash Records stores) offers the title track with a couple of very happy elaborations: Into the Lair of the Wait Worm 'baroque acoustic version' and 'Reprise', interspersed with an interlude, a sort of corridor which, as in the fable of 'Alice in Wonderland', catapults into the magical world of Paul and his music.
'... As promised, I took the opportunity to finish the piece that I considered incomplete at the time ...' declares the author again.
... You did it with great skill, we add ...
Above all, the last trace is a pearl, as we are used to finding in every Paul's work: 10 '11' which leave their mark indelibly.
Also noteworthy is Solemn Angel (The Tenderest Strain) where warm female voices blend in controlled riffs and measured interventions. The result? Overwhelming. Could a journey through elves, fairytale atmospheres and baroque psychedelia be missing in Roland's works? Certainly not! and here is Moon Child who pleases everyone thanks to the whisper of royalties by dancing fairies.
'... A new' old album 'that looks back and forth at the same time; a reference to my past works, but walking in a new direction ... sparse psych stoner rock ... '(autograph definition)
One thing is certain: Paul Roland loves everything that revolves around the dark environment and his fans love him for that too.
Musicians:
Paul Roland (vocals, acoustic guitars, woodwings, strings, additional percussion); Mick Crossley (lead and rhythm guitars); Joshua Roland (bass); Violet the cannibal (drums); Nico Steckelberg (all instruments on the interludes); Joran Elane (lead and ethereal vocals); Annie Barbazza (additional backing vocals); Max Marchini (bass and electric guitar on 'Sister, Why Sit By Window & Weep?').
Margot, 07.11.2020
