John Holden - 2022 - Kintsugi

(54:13; John Holden)

I am playing a little bit of catch-up with John’s albums, as it was only when reviewing the most recent that I realised I had missed a couple, so what I am listening to now is his 2022 release, ‘Kintsugi’. Yet again John (guitars, bass, keyboards, orchestration) has brought in some incredible guests, so we get vocals from That Joe Payne, Ian Hornal, Peter Jones (plus saxophone) and Sally Minnear on a few tracks each, Dave Bainbridge providing guitar on one song, Jean Pageau flute on the same one, Henry Rogers drums on two,  Vikram Shankar (piano, keyboards) on three and Frank Van Essen (violin, viola, drums) on one.  

But what makes John’s albums so essential is that not only are they quintessentially English, but they also refuse to sit within any particular sub-genre of prog so one never knows what is going to get, except the lyrics will be worth listening to, the music will be beautifully arranged and the performances exceptional. Take “Ringing The Changes” for example, which has a wonderful vocal from Sally, which is not only a wonderful story about a group of people sharing a passion for bell ringing, but also what the narrator thinks of the other protagonists. For example. she tells us that Polly has bats in her belfry while Marjorie has 20 cats, after which we get a tiny “meow” (makes me smile every time), but while we are listening to the lyrics wanting to get the full picture, musically this is exactly what it is like hearing and playing the bells. While I have never played church bells, I was a handbell ringer for years, and I can imagine much of this being played on bells, it has that certain swing and feel.

But then the next song features Peter Jones, here becoming almost Gabrielesque in a more restrained fashion, where fretless bass plays a major role against the piano and keyboards. Bainbridge doesn’t feature on “Peggy’s Cove”, which is almost surreal as it certainly reminds me of classic Iona in the introduction, but then we again get taken back in time as Sally here sings about a shipwreck in Nova Scotia. Lyrics are an incredibly important part of the storytelling from John, and annunciation is key, so it is no surprise that all of the singers he works well have wonderfully clear voices.

Yet again this is a superb album from John and his guests and is already very much one of my favourites. 

Kev Rowland, January 2026

Links:
https://johnholdenmusic.com/