The cover of The Forked Road features a monochrome illustration: a figure with moonlit eyes weeping luminous streams, a full moon resting on their forehead, and large earrings framing their face. Their shoulders dissolve into barren landscapes with twisted trees and diverging paths.

The Forked Road: Richard Wileman at the Crossroads

Richard Wileman – The Forked Road (Believers Roast, 2024)

Karda Estra composer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Richard Wileman released his 4th solo album The Forked Road in January 2024. The record presents a highly talented musician guiding listeners down pathways where progressive rock and folk meet. On The Forked Road you’ll find a truly exquisite set of songs.

Wileman’s arrangements feel handcrafted. Natural field sounds and eerie ambience flicker at the edges; delightful acoustic guitars sketch the contours; harp lends a cool, timeless shimmer. Dreamy psychedelic electric guitar blooms at key moments, while inventive bass lines move with quiet purpose. The spellbinding vocals arrive like candlelight, soft, steady, and designed to illuminate.

The album’s worldview remains recognizably Wileman: gothic influences, surreal detours, and a cosmic gaze shaped by progressive rock, experimental and western classical studies, film-score sensibilities, easy listening and library lineage, folk horror, and art rock.

Richard Wileman is an English artist who releases albums with his project Karda Estra along with solo projects and collaborations.

Composed and produced by Richard Wileman

Musicians: Richard Wileman on guitars, vocals, bass, keyboards, percussion. bouzouki, Appalachian dulcimer, accordion, melodica, artwork; Amy Fry on vocals, clarinet, and saxophone; Chantelle Smith on vocals, harp, bodhran; Sienna Wileman on Avebury sound recordings.

Buy The Forked Road.

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