THE LAST OF THE LIBERTINE

This is excellent music. Completely intelligent and full of musical craftsmanship but also extremely moody and absorbing. One of the most impressive aspects of it is that it primarily uses acoustic instruments such as classical guitar, oboe, flute, washy mystical female vocals, vibes and piano etc with state of the art production to create really wonderful intricate detailed, lush and exciting arrangements, with some great chromatic twists and turns. The music is also filled with sleek melodies that draw you in completely. What really makes it work for me is its darkly gothic melancholic mood, which pervades across the whole album - it is just so beautiful and evocative - you can't fail to be drawn into the unique world it creates. This is music that deserves to be heard by many many more people than I suspect have heard it .... It gets my very highest recommendation.

My decision to buy this album was based on my first listening to the samples on the web, that sound beautiful, with mysterious and peculiar melodies, and high quality of performance, sound and production. Later on I've heard some more tracks that Richard Wileman, the driving force behind Karda Estra, generously spread around the internet, and I've realized that this kind of music fit less for my taste than I thought before. Nevertheless I bought one Karda Estra album. I chose 'The last of the libertine' album, on the basis of the samples on MySpace that sounds a little bit more rhythmic than other KE albums samples.

And the conclusions? In general it's a pleasant listening, in a certain sorts of moods. Do not expect for great tempests, what you got here is eight melodic and nice tracks, a little bit more sophisticated than the average ones in this kind of music, heavily influenced by English folk. Anthony Philips comes to mind here. Sometimes the music is very sweet, almost like lift music (but without being too cliché). And if I asked to relate to genres classification, well, I didn't manage to find any symphonic prog here. Overall, sometimes the music is good, sometimes a little bit boring.

The performance is excellent, mainly the oboe and cor anglais, both played by Caron Hansford, and the trumpet from Louise Hirst, (soft sounds that reminds me of Herb Alpert). Also I enjoyed from the classical guitar from Richard himself. It's evident that he rules the instrument and the techniques, and provides a very good sound out of the guitar. The production as I mentioned before is superb, crystal clear.

The tracks I like the most are tracks 2 and 6, 'Life Drawing', and the title track, 'The Last of the Libertine', respectively. Both are more rhythmic than most of the album. 'Life Drawing' got beat strumming on the guitar, and the title track features nice drums. (OK, programmed, so what). Another track I like is track 3, 'Atom of Warmth', with its heavenly, lovely melody.

In a nutshell, this is a good album, but far from being an essential one. It suits for all who need right now something pastoral and calm, in a better quality from the average standard of this kind of music.

I have been a fan of Richard Wileman's work since I first became aware of his previous band, Lives & Times, yet I was surprised to see that this 2007 release was actually his eleventh as Karda Estra. The concept this time is of a man who exchanged his soul for a life of indulgence and the inevitable sadness when it comes to an end. Richard has again brought together a strong line-up to assist him in bringing this story to musical life, and as always has delivered an instrumental album of incredible complexity and depth. In previous reviews I have often commented on the cinematic quality of his work, combined with a great breadth of almost orchestral stylings. This album contains those elements but is now very tightly focussed with some almost jazz-stylings from the brass and woodwind. It is also interesting to hear Richard adopting some of the rockiest guitar playing I have heard from him on "Life Drawing" which is very much in direct contrast to "Atom Of Warmth".

I have been playing a lot of Antony Phillips in recent weeks and I can hear some of the same use of instrumentation and acoustic guitar here, especially when Richard produces some of his acoustic touches. Interestingly there are also sections that are quite reminiscent of Steve Hackett, but there is no way that his could be considered a homage to Genesis! Yet again Richard has produced a stand out work that lovers of good music are encouraged to discover for themselves. It may not be rock, it may not be jazz, it may not be truly classical, but as an amalgam of all three plus much more, this is a delight from the first note to the last. www.kardaestra.co.uk

Originally appeared in Amplified #109, 2010