Richard Shindell 2016
6-3-2016
Widely acclaimed as one of today's finest narrative songwriters, Richard Shindell has that rare gift for using detail to illuminate his characters' motivations and actions without ever getting mired in minutiae. An expatriate New Yorker now living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Shindell is a meticulous song craftsman whose eight studio albums and 2 live recordings have been revered by critics and fans alike. Innovative, original and occasionally spiritual, Shindell's songs weave tales that interchangeably champion the downtrodden, exalt the disaffected or wax empathetic to those lost to society's fringes. From his first record, Sparrow's Point (1992) to the newest album Not Far Now (2009), Shindell has demonstrated a penchant for songwriting at once passionate and profound.
Not Far Now's nine new compositions (complimented by a pair of outside songs) are haunting vignettes that exist vividly beyond the song that documents them: Shindell gives the listener a window into these lives, but their story continues long after the window is shut. "Time deposits me, the character I'm writing about, and a listener there at the first line," he observes. "Then, at the end of the song, at the end of the last line, life and time go on. The song happens in between those two moments."
“Shindell is a master of subtle narrative.” - The Wall Street Journal
“Shindell has uncanny sense of the theater of a song, building his ballads sparely and subtly, set to sweeping graceful melodies.” - The Boston Globe
“A tour-de-force of brilliantly crafted songs, passionately delivered songs that consistently create three-dimensional visual and emotional images which move through the listener’s mind’s eye.” - Stereo Review
VIDEO
Widely acclaimed as one of today's finest narrative songwriters, Richard Shindell has that rare gift for using detail to illuminate his characters' motivations and actions without ever getting mired in minutiae. An expatriate New Yorker now living in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Shindell is a meticulous song craftsman whose eight studio albums and 2 live recordings have been revered by critics and fans alike. Innovative, original and occasionally spiritual, Shindell's songs weave tales that interchangeably champion the downtrodden, exalt the disaffected or wax empathetic to those lost to society's fringes. From his first record, Sparrow's Point (1992) to the newest album Not Far Now (2009), Shindell has demonstrated a penchant for songwriting at once passionate and profound.
Not Far Now's nine new compositions (complimented by a pair of outside songs) are haunting vignettes that exist vividly beyond the song that documents them: Shindell gives the listener a window into these lives, but their story continues long after the window is shut. "Time deposits me, the character I'm writing about, and a listener there at the first line," he observes. "Then, at the end of the song, at the end of the last line, life and time go on. The song happens in between those two moments."
“Shindell is a master of subtle narrative.” - The Wall Street Journal
“Shindell has uncanny sense of the theater of a song, building his ballads sparely and subtly, set to sweeping graceful melodies.” - The Boston Globe
“A tour-de-force of brilliantly crafted songs, passionately delivered songs that consistently create three-dimensional visual and emotional images which move through the listener’s mind’s eye.” - Stereo Review
VIDEO