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Stocki reviews Richard Gilpin's new album and finds a contender already for Irish album of the year and an alternative voice for God in the process...

As 2007 begins from Slievebuck, in the rugged beauty of Donegal, Richard Gilpin sends out an album that throws down the gauntlet for a best Irish album by years end. Oh I am sure there will be trendier more inventive and experimental productions coming out of Dublin as the months go by but with its organic soul their will be fewer albums of the ambition and scope and depth of Loose Ends. This is the Lisburn born Gilpin’s third album. The first two were solid and workmanlike from a musician earning a crust round the pubs and clubs of Ireland. Loose Ends, however, is the work of a mature craftsman who should find himself on a much bigger stage.  

The eclectic mix of songs and instrumentation is the revelation. Peter ‘Duke Special’ Wilson brings his vaudeville piano, Cathal Hayden his trad Irish fiddle and it is all thrown into an Irish stew of country, folk, reggae and rock. On the folk end "The Ballad of Francis and the Sultan" is ambitious in its lyrical detail, a story song of the old school and delivered with conviction. "The Great Compromise" is another eight versed story song with fiddles heightening the tension; it has powerful dramatic effect. "Put Your Hand In Mine" is a beautiful love song with a gospel/soul feel and "Because You Can" is a sad broken ballad with Gilpin’s poignant voice wrapped around Pete Wilson’s stark piano. There is acoustic rock on "Leave It All Behind" and even a touch of reggae on the lead off track "Soul Searching." 

It is that track’s chant like mantra intro that hints at the albums content. Two songs look at firstly an ancient saint St Francis and secondly future saint Oscar Romero. There is a blinding declaration of a "NewRepublic" that could have been named "The Kingdom of God," soul salving at "The Healing Pool" and “reckless hope of Divine love” in the closing "I Think I Heard  You Call My Name". Much wisdom and vision of a better world are unfurled but with none of the arrogance and bluster that many come to expect from such spiritual potency. Indeed, Gilpin admits “I’m no expert on God/I know about as much/ as a brand new baby does” ("No Expert"); “I strain my eyes through darkened glass/To be still not sure” ("New Republic"); and that he has only “Just a little faith inside me.” ("Soul Searching"). As that woman who merely touched the hem of Jesus cloak and found it enough to have the God of the Universe stop and seek her out,  so Gilpin reaches tentatively for the cosmic question and finds more than enough suggestions to deliver. 

There are so many spokesmen for God and most of them send us running with our ears covered. Every now and again, out from the edges, comes another voice that speaks radically and clearly and in the humblest and most unassuming way and we cock the ears of our hearts and soak it in. He would be the last person on earth to put himself forward for the job but Richard Gilpin’s new album has made him such a voice. I have been listening to this album for a couple of weeks and there are constant moments of insight, wonder, joy and just great observation and advice. 

Richard Gilpin has matured beyond prediction. The crafting of these songs in their lyrical deftness, thought out arrangements and meticulous playing is only added to by the life experience and soul searching that the man has done to create an album that is not only worth listening to but worth listening deeper to.
  
Steve Stockman

Steve Stockman is the Presbyterian Chaplain at Queens University, Belfast, Ireland, where he lives in community with 88 students. He has written two books Walk On; The Spiritual Journey of U2 which he is currently updating and The Rock Cries Out; Discovering Eternal Truth in Unlikely Music. He dabbles in poetry and songwriting and he has a weekly radio show on BBC Radio Ulster (listen anytime of day or night @ www.bbc.co.uk/ni/religion/rhythmandsoul). He has his own web page--Rhythms of Redemption at http://stocki.ni.org . He also tries to spend some time with his wife Janice and daughters Caitlin and Jasmine.