John Henry Lambert

John Lambert: Vocals & Acoustic Guitar

Ian Ritchie: Soprano and Tenor Saxophone

Isabel Lambert: Harmonium and Piano

Kathleen Willison: Vocals,Violin on Swallows, Piano on City Skies

Natalie Williams: Vocals

Gone Away is John Lambert's first solo album, in a long music career that has included the folk rock outfit Schrodingers Cat and experimental ambient house pioneers Shen. In a departure from previous recordings, Gone Away is a deep and brooding acoustic recording, imbued with a sense of quiet stillness and sensitivity. Recorded on location at John's Dartmoor farmhouse, it captures the unembellished truth of his songs, a reflection on loss, like shadows cast across a waters surface. The sessions spanned two years, capturing some almost transcendental moments of mood and musicianship, from an amazing team of contributors, including saxophonist Ian Ritchie (currently touring with Roger Waters), singers Natalie Williams and Kathleen Willison, and his wife, Isabel Lambert.

From the sleeve notes:

We recorded 'Gone Away' slowly, over a two year period, on location at John Lambert's farm on Dartmoor. From the outset, we decided the process was more important than the outcome.Nothing was rushed, atmosphere was everything. We applied quite arbitrary rules to the production from the beginning – we would neither use percussion nor electric instruments, we would not overdub anything. Everything would be recorded live in single takes, we would play and record it all in the house, we would aim for a consistency of mood, and we would enjoy being with each other. But most of all we aimed to create and capture those subtle moments in which the musicians entered into a shared psychological or spiritual space, a space inhabited by the atmosphere of the song rather than the individuals playing it. Not everything is perfect in these recordings – we made many decisions that favoured atmosphere over technical perfection. But this is how we like it, this is how it was. When it came to mixing the record, we also resisted the temptation to edit, to add and take away. We hope this process of minimal intervention has preserved a sense of being true to the players, true to the heart of each song and true to the moment.

All songs arranged byJohn Lambert, Ian Ritchie, Isabel Lambert, Richard Ashrowan
Produced and recorded by Richard Ashrowan at Uphill Farm
Stereo mixes by Philip Bagenal at Eastcote Studios
Surround mixes by Richard Ashrowan and John Lambert at Uphill Farm
Mastered by Simon Heyworth at Super Audio Mastering
Photography by Robbie Smith, cover design by Richard Ashrowan

Special thanks to Alex Campbell, Bridie Ashrowan, Holly Penfield, Eulalia O’Brien, Nicola Parker-Smith, Mark Rigamonti, Jim Chapman and Simon at Performance Instruments, Simon and Terry at PMT.