Harrowing is not a word one would normally associate with a solo cello recital, even one – as here – with the use of electronics, but the premise behind Matthew Barley’s latest release, as related in the booklet, is just that. Encompassing teenage drug abuse which led to a failed suicide attempt, three and a half decades suppressing the memory and its eventual release through a psychedelic experience at an ayahuasca ceremony in Brazil (and the six months of therapy dealing with the terror that followed in its wake), these experiences of long-forgotten trauma and recovery also released his long-held desire to compose (hinted at in his interview with Charlotte Gardner, 6/19), which manifested itself during the lockdowns of the global pandemic in 2020.

‘Light Stories’ is a suite for solo cello, with discreet electronic accompaniment, of connected pieces drawing inspiration from Barley’s at times harrowing back story (and it should be emphasised here that there have been many positives in his life, not least his love of and career in music, and his marriage to violinist Viktoria Mullova, to whom ‘Light Stories’ is dedicated). There is an immediacy to the compositions, which are the logical development of the improvisation and arrangement that have been recurrent components of Barley’s programming on disc – for instance on his previous release, ‘Electric’ (5/23) – or in concert for many years. Two affecting arrangements, of a Bach chorale and a movement (‘Hell 1’) from a suite for cello and strings by Giovanni Sollima (b1962), are included here, providing intriguing stylistic contrast.

The style of ‘Light Stories’ is, understandably, eclectic – this is effectively his Op 1, after all – and reflects the music Barley has performed over the past three decades, from Harvey and Anna Meredith to the Elgar Concerto. The climactic seventh piece, Timefolding, opens with a musical assault on this last in what is arguably the defining moment of the album. There is much to admire in the music Barley has written himself, from the beguiling, scherzo-like Unravelling (with its uneasy undertow) or the penultimate Full, Empty, which provides an element of catharsis before the closing, slightly overlong The Unwaiting Sky. Barley’s performance is as virtuosic and definitive as one would expect, and the sound quality is well focused. Barley is preparing an expanded version of 15 pieces for live performance, which will be well worth hearing.