PERFECT BEINGS

The self-titled album by "Perfect Beings" is a great album, so close to a 4-star rating but not adventurous or consistent enough and doesn't quite connect with me. It lacks direction and power, but does show great talents within the band.

"The Canyon Hill" is a bit too poppy for my liking, and the melodies could be improved, but it does set a certain mood and is definitely a creditable track. Not the best opener though. "Helicopter" is more up my street and sounds sort of like a modern-day Supertramp. Catchy little hooks but still erring a little too much on the pop side, but at least more progressive and heavy than the first track.

"Bees And Wasps" is where the album truly becomes prog rock, and includes some great piano plus guitar (as with "Helicopter" to a lesser extent) and the instruments all complement each other. It reminds me slightly of The Hoosiers, but under a more experimental but more unsure direction. Quite good harmonies, and some excellent dissonant solos mid-way through, with various timings thrown towards you. One of the best tracks on the album, and where it really starts for me. The lyrics are also commendable, and great to relax to.

"Walkabout" is essentially a folk pop song to begin with, with progressive flavours embedded in it. A very luxurious song, and a great listen. The sound is here sounds more developed than the first 2 songs, and more mature, with much better chemistry between the musicians, and a well written song. The piece goes on for quite long looking back on it, but when you listen to it, it feels much more hypnotic, especially during the somehow discrete drum solo backed by almost minimalistic piano and guitar melodies. It sort of segues into "Removal Of The Identity Ship", which contains some slightly intriguing forward-thinking pop, but on the whole quite meaningless and lacking soul. On the contrary, the musicians do work well enough together on here. It does get somewhat better towards the end, with a more chord-influenced guitar and organ "duet".

Again, "Program Kid" is fairly dull and unexciting sonically, but musically quite impressive I suppose. It just needs a bit more life and tonal variation, otherwise the album becomes more stifled. However, like other songs it improves towards the end (re-birthing the familiar "Willow Farm" chords by Genesis). The following song "Remnants Of Shields" again retreats to a more folky acoustic song, with slightly alluring lyrics and chord progressions, but reinforces the two-trick pony of progressive folk and pop combinations reappearing through the album. An unnecessary addition in my mind.

"Fictions" - nothing too special. The harmonies sound a bit unenthusiastic, and the lines get a bit tired by this points. There are some moments of interest in the multi-track vocals and more atmospheric keyboard buzzing in the background which shape the track relatively nicely. "Primary Colors" is alright, but still not different enough, and drags on too much. There's not much more I can say to show the mediocrity of this that differs from the rest of the review. It basically lacks experimentation.

The final song "One Of Your Kind" picks up things a bit, and like tracks 3 and 4, stands out more, with a bit more variation and different techniques emitted from the band, including the beautiful and nowadays-forgotten nylon guitar solo. It leads into a sort of toned-down Dream Theater song, with cleaner keyboards and guitars. Still certainly listenable, along with the following melodies and artistry that give off a more attractive quality to the whole work. It ends wonderfully with a childlike musical box timbre that rounds the album down quite well.

C+: "Perfect Beings" is an album that I will probably give a few more listens to, despite its inconsistency and undecided musicality. It proves that music is still developing; maybe not as well as it used to, but there is something emerging.

The Canyon Hill: *** Helicopter: *** Bees And Wasps: **** Walkabout: **** Removal Of The Identity Ship: **** Program Kid: *** Remnants Of Shields: *** Primary Colors: *** One Of Your Kind: ****