Sir Richard Bishop

the Freak of Araby

CD LP 

Drag City

apo boomkat: On this latest album Sir Richard Bishop pays homage to his Lebanese heritage, embracing the modes and scales of the Middle East with tributes to guitarists like Omar Khorshid and Mike Hegazi. The electric guitar is Bishop's primary musical platform on this album, making some beautifully melodic shapes whilst carrying that trademark superhuman technical skill that Bishop so specialises in. In addition to the Lebanese references you might equally detect a certain mariachi-like quality to performances like 'Essaouira' and 'Kaddak El Mayass', which sounds much as you'd imagine an Ennio Morricone soundtrack for a Robert Rodriguez film would. After around thirty-five minutes of solid Bishop shred-fuelled exotica 'Blood-Stained Sands' finds the guitarist redirecting the spotlight towards a couple of Morroccan chanters, concluding the record with a riotous dirge of untamed reeds.