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Spirits Burning & Bridget Wishart — Fragments
(Deko Entertainment , 2026, CD / DL)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2026-06-10

Fragments Cover art

Once upon a time (from 1989 to 1991) Bridget Wishart was Hawkwind’s only ever female vocalist, appearing on one studio album (Space Bandits) and around four or five live albums during that period, maybe more — it’s easy to lose track. She appeared on the 2008 Spirits Burning album Alien Injection, and on several Spirits Burning albums in the years since, often sharing equal billing: Earth Born, Bloodlines, Make Believe It Real, and many more, including most importantly, 2025’s Live at Kozfest (recorded in 2017). And Spirits Burning is of course the space rock collective project directed by multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger Don Falcone, where each release can easily involve dozens of different musicians. Wishart has appeared on most of them except for the earliest few. Fragments is 2026’s offering, and contains no less than a dozen tracks, some of  which were created over a ten year period, with much of the material being based on Wishart’s novel Caiomhe Tales, the lyrics provided in an eighteen-page illustrated booklet. Wishart and Falcone feature on every one of the pieces, with additional musicians participating on various cuts, including Lee Potts, Paul Sears, John Pierpoint, Jerry Jeter, Scotty Smith, Joe Diehl, Jack Gold-Molina, and Gabe Monticello, all track depending. Perhaps one of the most engaging pieces here is a five-part suite collectively titled “Caoimhe Tales” which opens and closes with the two-part instrumental “Piper,” plus “Tides,” “Dark Eyes,” and “Spin,” together over 22 minutes in total. The title track is another powerful piece, with Wishart’s dreamy vocals harmonizing with Jerry Jeter, fading in and out over a beautiful backdrop of sparse keyboards and guitar. The three tracks that comprise the opening three-part twelve-minute “Nature Suite” are also a powerful set of tunes, with outstanding lyrics both sung and spoken by Wishart. All taken, Fragments is an excellent and unusual set of tunes that defy classification.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Spirits Burning, Bridget Wishart, Paul Sears

More info
http://spiritsburning.bandcamp.com/album/fragments

 

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