Introducing… Rick Redbeard

Rick Anthony prepares solo project

The Phantom Band's Rick Anthony has formally unveiled his new solo project Rick Redbeard.

Funny word, timeless. When applied to music, it generally comes to mean an adult-oriented blancmange of half-inched rock 'n' roll riffs or the odd gesture towards Southern soul. In the hands of Rick Redbeard, though, it comes to mean something else.

Part of The Phantom Band, Rick Anthony's new solo project is a daring advancement. Rick Redbeard seems to act as a focal for music of the elements, from the bare landscapes of the Mid West to the soaring heights of the Cuillins.

Debut album 'No Selfish Heart' is timeless, in the sense that it escapes any defining sense of era. Flourishing, extremely natural music, Rick Redbeard seemingly assembled the material in various locations across Scotland.

Pieced together, the results flirt with the imaginary, other worlds of Alasdair Gray or the Southern gothic of Cormac McCarthy with 'No Selfish Heart' boasting songs that are in turns tender and macabre, melancholic and life affirming.

Sayeth the man himself: "I've always been attracted to comforting music; for me, Leonard Cohen's music is never depressing, it's soothing. I want people to hear my songs in the same way I've heard certain music over the years: like kind words from an old friend."

ClashMusic has been handed 'Cold As Clay (The Grave'). Savage yet under stated, it's a neat primer for Rick Redbeard's forthcoming full length.

– – –

'No Selfish Heart' is set to be released on January 25th.

-
Join the Clash mailing list for up to the minute music, fashion and film news.