FEELINGS ARE GOOD

Lonely Robot was one of the more interesting art rock projects to come out of the UK in the last decade. Masterminded by the great John Mitchell (Arena, It Bites, Frost*, Kino) who is assisted mainly by drummer Craig Blundell (Steven Wilson, Frost*, Steve Hackett, and many more), the 'band' released a triplet of albums that went under the name 'The Astronaut Trilogy'. Among them, I must admit, the 2019 effort 'Under Stars' sounds like the strongest one. Well, 'Feelings Are Good' is even stronger, more convincing, more memorable, and much more personal.

The lonely robot has landed back on Earth and gives us the full picture on how he feels about his presence on it, his aspirations and disappointment, his most sincere thoughts and ideas. A really wonderful concept that John Mitchell manages to present flawlessly. I feel strongly that this is his most energetic and musically expressive solo album, definitely his best one in the whole Lonely Robot catalogue. Mixing progressive rock's challenging offering with his pop-sided and melancholic twist, John Mitchell captures a palette of feels in a really convincing and intriguing manner. Sometimes more minimalistic, acoustic, and mellow, and sometimes aggressive, raging, and visceral.

The highlights of the album are not few, these including opener 'Feelings Are Good', a tiny introduction piece that sets the mood, follow-up 'Into the Lo-Fi' which is quite accessible and playful, definitely catchiness was pursued and achieved successfully here. 'Spiders', that also happens to be one of the singles' is a great track with an explosive chorus. 'Life Is A Sine Wave', another single and another very memorable track, exploring the curious theme of happiness in life.

'Keeping People as Pets', the final single released before the launch of the album, is undoubtedly one of the best tracks on the album, and of the highlights of the Lonely Robot catalogue, a very strong early Peter Gabriel solo vibe, who I think has influenced the art rock direction of the record. Mesmerizing keyboard and crunchy guitars intertwine with John Mitchell's astonishing voice to provide one of the most durable choruses of the year, if I can call it that way. Finally, 'Army of One' is the 'heaviest' track on the album, and also happens to be my absolute favorite (it was hard to choose between it and 'Keeping People As Pets'). I must fall into repetition but this track is also one of the best that John Mitchell ever released, a real gem in the Lonely Robot discography. The rest of the songs are also good and deserve to be heard.

Overall, I think this is the best Lonely Robot album so far, a record that definitely deserves your full attention because it is quite revealing and really sheltering towards the listener, an album that was obviously done quickly but carefully crafted.

I have been writing about the music of John Mitchell (Kino, Frost*, Arena, It Bites, Solar) for more than 20 years, and here he is back again with drummer Craig Blundell (The Mute Gods, Frost*, Steven Wilson) as Lonely Robot. This is the fourth album from the band but is also in many ways a fresh start in that the first three are often referred to as "The Astronaut Trilogy'. When asked about this album John said, "I wanted to explore more personal themes and the songs are very much about individual experiences and narratives that I believe had been the cornerstones, good and bad, to my life. The long, tall and short of it is that we're back on planet Earth, and I have a personal lyrical axe to grind!"

Apart from drums, John does everything on this album, which in many ways is comparable to the work of Devin Townsend except far more melodic and not nearly as dense. Both use walls of sound where the time is right, and produce massively complex music, but while Townsend is coming at it from an out and out metal approach, Mitchell is of course coming in from the progressive area. As one would expect, given his body of work, it is highly commercial and melodic with loads of hooks combined with string production and musicianship. It certainly never sounds as if it is basically a one-man band but far more as if it is a complete outfit who have honed their skills on the road. Although Mitchell is primarily a guitarist, he is also a reasonable keyboard player and the accompaniment he provides on "Crystalline" is sublime: it is a wonderful ballad with his vocals providing a needed edge. If ever there was a example of less is more then this is it, with the bass coming in and out, the same with the drums, and there is just so much space within this that one can relax inside with a smile.

Contrast that to "Life Is A Sine Wave", which has far more punch and vigour, although it again shifts and moves in different styles ? here is an anthem which is designed to get a crowd going in the live environment. Like his Arena bandmate Clive Nolan, Mitchell is able pigeonhole his ideas so different projects have different musical identities, yet in all cases one knows it will be enjoyable, melodic, well played and produced, and just plain fun. Yet another album which is well worth investigating.