William D. Drake – Moulded By Industry (Onomatopoeia Records) – William D Drake has a new album, it has been a long journey, we’ve been writing about Bill and his music for so many years now, we’ve gushed about it many many times, from his days as a Cardiac and just the right foil for Tim Smith (well much more than just a foil), to those beautiful Mr and Mrs Sea Nymphs days, to his now many solo albums. It is a unique thing, this beautiful thing he does, his wishes for delight, the delight he wishes upon us, delights as fine a blackbird’s nest, joys that never pass. It feels natural, almost innocent, very English in all the best of ways, never excentric, it would be far too easy to just hang that sign around his neck. Gloriously poetic, words, details; the sun’s eternal rays, spirits free, oh how he shields thee. is there an undercurrent of darkness this darkness, just hints? Not quite so innocent or maybe just a secret or two lurking? The best of us are feeling it? This new album might just might be Bill’s best yet, although we probably said that last time? It might be too early to say it is a favourite, it probably is his best though, it certainly is up there. It certainly is all around, there is the pungent smell of woods and fields, these things all around and around. It is grand, it feels like his most accessible work, the easiest to be with without needing to unwrap and work too hard to get into it – past work has taken a little time before the rewards are reaped, not this time, this new body of work is something to instantly love, to instantly be delighted by.
“William D Drake is a musician, pianist, keyboardist, composer and singer-songwriter. A former member of influential cult band Cardiacs” – is anyone ever really a “former member”? Once a Cardiac always a Cardiac surely? He has also released two albums with Cardiacs off-shoot Sea Nymphs (far more than just an offshoot) as well as as Mr and Mrs Smith and Mr Drake and a further five albums under his own name; William D Drake, Briny Hooves, Yew’s Paw, The Rising of the Lights and Revere Reach, this is his his sixth and his first for ten years. He once loudly declared the colour of a concert to be yellow in answer to Tim Smith’s on stage question of “what colour is the concert performance Bill?” at the Fetcham Riverside, a glorious night of which there were so so many: “yellow Tim, the colour is yellow…”. This album, might have a colour, it isn’t that easy to work out what that colour might be, there are so many here.
Okay so the closing song is gloriously innocent, all that love to let in, all that Beatles naiveity and all the let it in, let it out, let it be that somehow has none of these Lennon-esque cynical smiles or any of those sweet notes that jar. It is right that Love In The Universe is at the end after everything else, a parting smile, a sweet at the end of a lavish meal, the kind of song that that only William D could get away with is these times when we really do need that love.
And you never imagine him telling a single lie, let alone a thousand.
A Vision is classic William D Drake, it all is really, the whole album is classic Bill, classic while never quite sounding like a repeat, A Vision is very very Bill Drake, the whole of Moulded By Industry probably is. And yes, the album is a (glorious) return to the richly layered sonic texture and epic production of Briny Hooves and there is some beautiful playing here, delicious details, interplay, crafting of things. Once again William is joined by long time collaborators James Larcombe, Dean Gaisburgh-Watkyn and Steve Jackson, with the addition of a “new crew member”, singer Treana Morris – they do sound like a crew, a far from motley one, or maybe that’s just what they are?
It is a fine coming together of Bill’s ambitiously, his crew’s warm grandeur and that very English playfulness (well almost playfulness, playfulness might suggest throwaway, this is never that), Moulded By Industry is (mostly) a very beautiful thing, more poetic that folk-flavoured (it is rather strangely titled), it is of earth breath and harmoniums, of these things all around, it is of leafish grace, of the not so common things, it is English poetry, it is a treasure… (sw)
No tracks up on the album’s Bandcamp page yet so nothing much to embed here yet, the album is out on 9th October 2026, the details are on the Bandcamp page
PREVIOUSLY…
ORGAN THING OF THE DAY: A First listen to the new William D Drake album…
