The Gloaming's Thomas Bartlett releases his solo album ‘Shelter’ 24 July 2020
Best known as Doveman, or as part of The Gloaming, Thomas Bartlett has worked on a number of the most standout records of the last two decades and has performed with the likes of The National, David Byrne, and Nico Muhly. As a producer he has worked with Yoko Ono and Sufjan Stevens amongst others, and has earned Academy Award and Grammy nominations for ‘Mystery of Love’ from the film soundtrack to the 2017 fillm ‘Call Me By Your Name’.
So it’s something of a surprise that after so long, we get ‘Shelter’ his first solo album under his own name. A collection of eight disarmingly beautiful piano nocturnes from the acclaimed composer and producer, it was written as a love letter to his partner, British actress and singer Ella Hunt, as well as to New York City itself, his home for 21 years. 'Shelter' was recorded at his home over two days following the beginning of lockdown. The day after the lockdown started in New York, Thomas found the whole situation surreal. Leaving his apartment, he walked the five miles to his studio in Manhattan and passed maybe five people over the course of 100 blocks; Times Square was illuminated but empty. One day earlier, on 20th March, he had said goodbye to his English partner, Ella Hunt, who had to fly back to the UK. And now? “I was getting flashes of, Am I dreaming? This can’t quite be right,” he recalls, “And wait, did Ella actually just leave yesterday? It just felt insane.”
But with his studio now empty, Bartlett found solace in a musical form dear to him since childhood: the nocturne. Traditionally inspired by the night, the nocturne offers an entry into what is understood in the heart rather than the head; it is a way of assimilating what can’t be put into words. There is a stirring romanticism in Frédéric Chopin’s nocturnes that was revelatory to Bartlett, as a kid – one that seemed to spin entire worlds into being. But he’s been deeply wary of composing in such a style himself. “In the total strangeness of the moment and the lockdown, I gave myself permission to do a thing that I don’t usually do,” says Bartlett, “in terms of how these pieces to me are kind of shameless in their sentimentality.”
So, here’s something I wasn’t expecting to review – Classical music. The nocturne reached it’s popular peak with the works of Frédéric Chopin and the German Nachtstück of Robert Schumann. Always one for alternative forms of music, I like the 20th century works of Béla Bartók who developed a very particular and personal night-music style of distinctly macabre quality, such as ‘Out of Doors’ (fourth movement).
The absence of sirens, of noise and bussle, the smells of street food sellers, the city must have seemed an eerie place, and coupled with the departure of his partner to the UK it must have felt so lonely, and surreal. So it’s no surprise that the eight piano nocturnes that form ‘Shelter’ play as a love letter to his partner, as well as to New York City itself.
The mood of the album is one of dusk turning to inky evening blue, of lullabies for the heart, its pieces are multi-toned. The opening track Lucida is classic sounding and almost contemplative, with an almost old-fashioned 1940s feel to it. Rubrifolia is beautifully soothing while Xanthina has more of a jazz feel to it with shades of Cole Porter. Then there is Multiflora which is almost Ravel-esque in it’s form, with it’s feeling of wintery flowing water, as it shimmers, gurgles and tumble. A real highlight for me is Phoenicia. Imagine the image of a guy sat at the piano, leaning on the top, glass of bourbon on a coaster, lazily playing an exquisitely chilled out (at times jazzy) piece of music, staring into the distance, and you get the feel of Phoenicia right away. Along the way, you may hear distant echoes here of some of Bartlett’s big musical loves: Keith Jarrett and late-era Talk Talk. There are exquisitely deft melodic turns, as well as darker elements.
What is so exceptional about ‘Shelter’ is that alongside the striking beauty of the compositions, is the wonderful use of tone. One would expect nothing less from an artist that studied with celebrated Italian classical pianist Maria Curcio in London, as a teenager, but this quality adds exponentially to the overall effect here, especially in his use of quiet tone.
And what is the one universal symbol of true love ? The rose…. Which is why every track is named after a type of rose.
We’ve reviewed a number of tracks recently, written during the lockdown, from the heart, such as ‘Human Contact’ by Beans on Toast, and ‘Don’t Lie Awake’ by Confyde, but ‘Shelter’ is on another level all together. An entire album of nocturne piano pieces is a daunting idea and commercial risky. But really, you have to spend some time investigating this. Best to put on the album, and sit back and listen to it right through, allow it to envelope you and be carried away. The beauty, and sensitivity is delightful, and it’s emotional from start to finish.
When I first sat down to listen to this I was in awe, and I am now still. I was going to open the review with one simple line “Thomas Bartlett – Shelter – 10/10 – Enough Said”. I’m glad I didn’t, because it means I got to delve into it more and describe this flawlessly beautiful album to you in more detail, but I can’t think of a better way to end the review than with:
“Thomas Bartlett – Shelter – 10/10 – Enough Said”
