Greetings, loyal Spirit of Cecilia readers! Brad Birzer and Tad Wert engage in another music-related discussion, this time focusing on Rhys Marsh’s latest album, Towards The West.

Tad: Brad, thank you for suggesting we do a dialogue on this album. As I listened to it, I was almost overwhelmed with its spare, emotional vulnerability. I visited Marsh’s website, and he explains there that he recorded this music not long after his father passed away. 

Brad: Thanks so much, Tad.  I’ve been a fan of Marsh’s for a while now, ever since I first heard his Karisma release, October After All.  And, I really like his work with Mandala.  

But, I’m in complete agreement with you.  Even the length of Towards the West is intimate–at only 38 minutes long.  The album feels like it could’ve been the funeral service for Marsh’s father.  It has an intimate aspect, but it also has a holy aspect to it.  

You’re absolutely right, I think, to call out its “spare, emotional vulnerability.”  The music strikes me very much as a mix between Mark Hollis’s solo album from 1998 and Kevin McCormick’s acoustic music.  It’s holy, haunting, and ethereal.

I really like the lyrics as well, and I’m glad Marsh decided to let the song lengths be whatever they needed to be.  So, on this album, we have 2 minute tracks and 10 minute tracks.  Every song is exactly what it needs to be.

What do you think of the lyrics, Tad?  I find Marsh one of the best lyricists out there.  Everything he writes is meaningful, and given that this is a tribute to his father, the lyrics are especially meaningful.  Certainly, I’d be honored if one of my kids wrote about me at this level!

Tad: Brad, I’m glad you mentioned the 38 minute length of Towards The West. One of the banes of the compact disc era, in my opinion, was the temptation to fill its 75-minute capacity with music. That’s great for classical music, but for rock – even prog with its epics – 75 minutes listening can be exhausting! So, yes, the relatively short length of Towards The West just adds to its heft. Okay, rant over.

As far as the lyrics go, I agree that Marsh has a true gift. You and I differ in this respect: I am drawn to melody first, then lyrics, whereas I believe you’re the converse of that. Marsh’s vocals here are extremely prominent in the mix, which means the lyrics are front and center. I listened to the album through headphones, and it was almost as if he were whispering in my ear. 

There are many gems to be treasured here. I particularly like “Your words will never fade/Our love will always stay”, from It’s Like You Always Said. That song also includes a cassette recording of Marsh’s father speaking. Another lyric is “We think of you and all the years we spent together/The things you’d say, and how we’d laugh…You picked me up when I was down and you helped me to see/The things that matter and those that don’t”, from We’ll See You Again. It sounds mundane, but it’s really profoundly touching when Marsh sings it. My own father loved nothing better than to crack a joke and make those around him laugh, so I could immediately connect with Marsh there.

Brad: Despite being a father to seven kids, I never knew my dad.  I was only two months old when he died.  My older brothers were age 8 and 5 when he passed away.  So, I love stories of dads!  I love hearing that your dad always wanted folks to laugh.  And, I really appreciate Marsh’s tribute to his father.  The album truly is moving, and the more I listen to it, the more taken I am with it.  It really does grab the listener from the opening notes and carries him/her through to the very end.  

I think my favorite part is toward the middle and end of “Cauterise” as the music builds up so perfectly, so beautifully.  By this point in the album, Marsh has earned the right to give us a wall of sound.  Especially after how spare the earlier parts of the album are.  It really is an amazing buildup.

And, again, this takes me back to an earlier point (made above).  This is truly an album.  Not just a collection of songs, but a coherent and cohesive concept album, a work of art from beginning to end.

I also really love the spiritual quality of “We’ll See You Again.”

Anyway, Tad, Towards the West  is truly one of my favorite releases of the year.  I’m not exactly sure what Marsh means by the title of the album, but it has a Tolkienian feel to me–Frodo, Bilbo, and Gandalf departing for the Blessed Realm.

Tad: Yes! Towards the West is an album, not a random collection of songs. Before we close, I’d like to single out Marsh’s choice of instrumentation for some appreciation. It’s primarily acoustic, with a lot of piano. Most of the time, things are relatively hushed and intimate; which, given the subject matter, makes sense. When Marsh introduces electric guitar and bass, it’s always in service to the overall sound already established. I love the rawness of the music in this album. These could be demos, in a way – very well-produced ones, at least.

Okay, Brad, I think we’ve done Mr. Marsh’s new opus justice. Those interested in purchasing a hard copy can do so at Burning Shed, linked here.