Album Review: Nuevo Direccion

Skedaeddle is a music project performing the original folk pop music of Barry Holt. Wellington based, he also writes and performs on the classical guitar.

Joining Holt on this recording are Dean Zillwood, on acoustic guitar, and Chris Coad on bass.

The album opens with the warm tones of Barry Holt’s classical guitar. The opening tunes Noosa Theme and Fantasia are well laid out pieces of music, sounding like classical pieces, but adhering to ‘pop’ music structures, with intros, followed by what sounds like verses and choruses, where motifs change before returning to the previous part.

Canongate Waltz does lilt along in ¾, and again the piece shows Holt’s very high skill level.

The fourth track, Scenetta, begins with a chromatically descending pattern in a minor key, before the tune takes a turn for the happy. It makes me think of a young love affair in long grass, possibly in the Italian countryside. At the half way point Scenetta reached a coda, and essentially starts over, except with added parts here and there. It really is a piece that I could hear in a film.

Moto perpetuo thumps along quickly as the name suggests, with very fast finger work.

Continuing on with the songs which reflect their titles, Nocturne is a beautifully tranquil piece, which isn’t recommended listening if you’re writing an album review late into the night.

Mozart My Guitar does definitely have the feel of Mozart about it and is a nice way to pay homage to one of the greatest composers.

Prelude & Interlude does indeed sound like an introduction, and a series of intervals during a larger piece whilst Folk Theme sounds like a campfire session with a classically trained Romany traveler.

The 12-song album showcases Holt’s impressive skills both as a composer and a player.