Released on Friday 18 February 2022, "Late at Night" represents a real turning point in my musical career, since from now on I will publish vocal songs and no longer just instrumental pieces.
"Late at Night" is a special song for me: a ballad that talks about love, a nocturne passion and dances consumed late at night, of senses that merge into a single tremor and of souls that love to look at themselves in the dark, before fading like shadows at the first light of dawn.
The sweet and sensual atmospheres flow into beautiful melodic openings, also thanks to the delicate passages of the guitarist Francesco Luca d’Alesio and the splendid vocal performance of the singer Antonia Salzano.
The new single is available on major music streaming platforms.

Rick Barrel - Late At Night

Rick Barrel's new single "Only a Mountain" features changing musical atmospheres, with tender but sinister sounds flowing in hard rock passages and melancholy openings. The music and lyrics of the song try to pour into emotions restless inner scenarios moved by desolation, grudge and a lifelong thirst for revenge.
"Only a Mountain" is the second collaboration with the singer Antonia Salzano.

Only A Mountain

Back in 2011 I looked at some magnificent photos, taken by a friend of mine. Splendid shots which managed with sensitivity and poetry to depict ordinary desolation' scenarios.  Among these, one particularly deeply moved me: the shot showed a man, sitting alone in his house and smoking.  But that man seemed to be waiting for something, maybe just some news or maybe a turning point in his life, the way he always had so many evenings, perhaps for all his life.
That image immediately inspired me this music: I recorded it, but I am releasing it today, after all these years and after having recorded it properly, with some beautiful electric pianos of my Yamaha S90Es.  For the cover photo I chose an equally splendid photo (Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash), which reminds me very much of the shot I told you about and of which I have unfortunately lost all traces.
I hope that "The Wait" can communicate to you this feeling I tried to describe through these few words: this feeling about waiting in which one does not perceive great confidence or expectation for the future, but a shred of hope mixed with disillusionment. I really hope you will like minimalist side of my music and I wish you a good listening!
Cover Picture Credits: Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash BW

The Wait

On Friday 29 July 2022, Rick Barrel releases his new single, "By the light of the sea".
As for the previous single "The Wait", "By the light of the sea" is also part of a group of songs composed around 2010 and inspired by some author's shots. At the time I titled these short instrumental frescoes as "Music for images". In particular, this song was inspired by the depiction of an autumnal sea, beautifully illuminated by the pastel colors of a gray sky but not yet darkened by the darkest clouds.
In recent weeks I have decided to record this music over again: the liquid sound of a delicate electric piano is accompanied by the poetic and sometimes threatening tone of a cello, a deep and evocative instrument like few others. A visual contrast, which I also tried to pour into the music and through the combination of the two instruments. I found a beautiful shot of a dear friend of mine, I out it in a frame and placed on the wall of an abandoned house. Perhaps with a perennial view of a melancholy autumn sea, constantly threatened by clouds full of energy that struggle to release in a liberating rain.

The new Rick Barrel’s single (Riccardo Dell'Aversana), "By the light of the sea", will be available on the main music platforms, such as Spotify, Amazon, Youtube Music, Youtube, I-Tunes, Tidal and Deezer.
In particular, on Spotify - the most popular music streaming platform in the world - the artist's profile has already reached more than 1000 followers and 70000 listenings, receiving excellent feedback in terms of ratings with previous releases (mostly the last two singles, "Only a Mountain" and "Late at Night", but also including "The Wait", "El Planeta", "Web di Penelope ”,“ Warm Winter Sea ”and“ Fate of Mankind ”).

By The Light Of The Sea

I wrote and the clock chimed at midnight around mid-November 2022, I haven't been able to find the time to compose some new music for months and the opportunity was given to me by the forced isolation in which I found myself due to covid. In those days of waiting I was able to rediscover the atmosphere of the piano and the strings that inspired me a piece that I would define as a nocturne. I thank my friend Domenico Di Sarno for allowing me to use his magnificent photo of this incredible full moon.

And the clock chimed at midnight

This year, in my own small way, I wanted to give a musical contribution close to the Christmas holidays. "The gift", out on 12 december 2022, is an instrumental piece, written in early November 2022, with a delicate, vaguely melancholic atmosphere. A catchy melody that goes well with the good feelings that every year the advent of Jesus on earth instills in our hearts, with the hope of a better future and - above all - with the awareness that much depends on the good that we ourselves are called to do and to give. For free. After all, the Beatles taught us this at the time of Abbey Road: in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make. Merry Christmas!

The Gift

Three o'Clock in the Morning is the single that anticipates my new E.P. "Fragments. Unfolding". This is a short collection of small instrumental pieces, demos sometimes more or less complete or sometimes just outlined. They are eight small sound fragments that I decided to unfold (hence the title of this E.P. whose total timing is about 14 minutes), composed over a period of twenty years - together with many other fragments still in the drawer, and which perhaps one day will see the light, hoping that they will be developed as finished songs.
I thought of publishing them because they seemed worthy of being proposed. I deliberately alternated some more intimate pieces (where the presence of piano, electric piano and some orchestral instruments is predominant) with more structured ones (with a vague jazz flavor) and some experiments with an electronic aftertaste.

Three o'clock in the morning

The unsaid goodbye is a song I wrote this year for the passing of a very dear friend of mine, Gino, a person of extraordinary kindness and gentleness.
Gino was also teaching me how to play guitar, and his passing marked a deep wound inside me.
This song rasppresents a kind of farewell letter written to a very dear person whom I did not have a chance to say goodbye to at least one last time.
I hope that from up there he can hear it and receive my farewell, even though I feel him always present in my heart. 
Bye, Gino, and play this tune for me until the end of time....
I sincerely thank Ada Sant for the splendid way her voice gave substance and emotion to my verses.


The unsaid goodbye

"The Loner" is a song that tells the story of the disillusionment of an old cowboy, now at the twilight of his life, who bitterly reflects on all the violence, injustices, and distortions of a world he no longer recognizes.
The music, filled with melancholy, perfectly mirrors a lyric laden with disappointment and resignation.

The Loner

Beyond the end of the tunnel, as evening falls, the road fades away to make room for the heart.
​"Homeward" is my new musical story of that suspended moment when the journey ends and anticipation turns into joy. It is a hymn to returning, to the familiarity of beloved places, and to that "lump in the throat" that only the closeness of those we love can soothe. An emotional journey that culminates in the sweetest embrace, under the evening light.
​Dedicated to those who feel truly, finally at home only in someone's arms.



Rick Barrel - Homeward.mp3

I've always loved music, ever since I was a kid.  Pop has been My first love story with the music and I started composing my first unassuming songs when I was ten. About 18, I first approached metal music and then met the true great love of my musical passion.  Progressive rock.  I discovered a wonderful universe thanks to the music of groups such as Genesis, King Crimson, Yes, PFM, Pink Floyd, Rush, Camel and others.  The encounter with the world of the symphonic suite was illuminating for me and gave me the inspiration to compose themed music, suites that could tell stories through music.  The love for cinema led me to compose a suite centered on the parable of Charles Foster Kane, star of Citizen Kane by Orson Wells.  In recent years, I have begun to compose songs with a more contained timing and I have deeply immersed myself in listening to classical music.  In addition to my compositions as a solo artist, I carry on other musical projects with other bands of different musical inspiration (with Nemesis Valley I composed and recorded other unreleased songs, with Hashmarks we play covers and unreleased songs). 
