Posted on December 10, 2008 - by Halina Rifai

The Innocence Of Robyn G Shiels

I often find that I have arguments with myself, arguments and bloodied rage about why artists are not being listened to by more people. Is it that they do not take responsibility for the gift they have? Do they not project it enough? I do not think so. I blame a bleak music industry that infuses our everyday lives. With artists like Robyn G Shiels however, I am almost selfish that at least I have heard his consummate treasures.

Robyn’s debut album ‘A Lifetime Of Midnights’ was released in 2005 and received a rapturous welcome. For a debut, ‘A Lifetime Of Midnights’ is one of the most impressive records I have heard; the common melancholy undertone draws in and pulls out in a way that is as magnetic as the sea cascading in and breathing out from shore. It is an overwhelming record by any standard. For anyone that has loved and lost like most of us it is your guide and friend to the unbearable times that accompany your heartbreak.

Songs like ‘Playing Host To Ideas’ as upbeat as it is contains this black humour that Robyn himself as a character plays to perfection. ‘Playing host to ideas will be the breaking of your heart’, and so sublimity is written forever. One man and his guitar are the core of something that is so voluminous; ‘Sad Is Sometimes As Lonely’ has the additional light shining through the rafters with the tinkle of piano and the crying of a trumpet. ‘Never Say Never’ kidnapped my heart and bathed it better. One of the most gentle songs you are likely to hear the contradictive lyrics and vocals indicate a sense of one person giving up on everything, ’I call out my death wish’. A truly poignant song that helps round off an album that ironically, helps mend others after initially breaking one person.

Al lesson to teach us...

We move onto the present and 2008 has seen Robyn start to emerge again with reworked and new material. Material that others and I have had the blessing of hearing not only on record but also with heartfelt thanks live. I will mention Robyn’s Myspace at the end of this piece but please keep a close eye as from time to time, he changes the songs and you will hear these diamonds. ‘How Foolish Was I?’ is one of these exits to Nirvana. ‘Self taught in the lost art of common sense’, that one line is as alluring as you are likely to hear. Simple, arousing and beautiful, his sadness makes his beauty.

‘A Lesson To Teach Us’, I think this was the song that truly made me realise what phenomena Shiels is. ‘You and I will be the ticking of our hearts’; I want to scream so loud at how great this makes me feel. I want to stop people in the street and force them to listen to this, shake them with full force and consume their beings with this song. Forget everything you have for a moment and come listen with us.

My final song mention (for fear of writing a novel) is ‘If Now Is An Echo’. With a start like a man hanging his head waiting for his chin to be lifted ‘if now is an echo, I’ll be forgot’, no my friend for music like this will stay with us forever. A crescendo builds like one expressing their suppressed emotion and ones love is washed as huge as a rainbow from start to end.

Never say never

Shiels hides behind a mask, one of comedy and tragedy. His music is his lifeline and his lyrics are his message to us that we all have our breakdowns but ultimately what a truly dull life it would be without feelings. Please, never give up for a glorious future started the day you let your mask slip through your music.

www.myspace.com/rgshiels

Robyn G Shiels – If Now Is An Echo

Let it ring on...

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