VOYAGER

Instrumental music has always been a bit of a tricky subject with a lot of people. It's quite a specialised little sub division of the prog genre I guess, having a little niche all of it's own, and you've really got to be pretty good at it to be able to get by. As a relative newcomer to that niche, this chap is in some pretty fine company, and he shows himself to be more than worthy of the honour with this album

"Voyager" has a run time of just over 50 minutes and consists of only 2 tracks : Part 1 and Part 2. That might be a bit unimaginative for some people, but then lots of artists name their tracks in such a manner, and for this particular album I think it's an adequate system of track nomenclature.

The music itself is at times brooding with a sense of imminence, and at times soaring and majestic with some powerful guitar work. At other times gentle and delicate, and it occasionally blasts you with that classic prog style wall of sound where everything seems to be happening at full throttle. From singing lead guitar moments through to quieter, more atmospheric passages led by some beautiful keyboard and synth sounds, many of which are reminiscent of something Jean Michel Jarre might have done on Oxygene or Equinox, including some odd little wackier synth sounds thrown in for effect. It all works and there is plenty in here for the listener to discover.

If I had to make a comparison of what this is like I might struggle a bit as there are a few influences to choose from, but at a push I might say that it's kind of like the day when Pink Floyd met Deep Purple (lots of Hammond Organ sounds you see, especially in part 2) but with a bit of Yes and Barclay James Harvest thrown in for good measure as well as the aforementioned French Dude.

After a couple of listens I get the impression that guitar is this artists main instrument as that's what the majority of the solos are given over to, but he's a pretty good keyboard player too, although he tends to use the keys more for backing and effect with only occasional solo work there.

In conclusion I have to say that I find this album pretty refreshing and full of good ideas, and I'll be watching closely to see what he comes up with next.