SLIPPING INTO THE UNKNOWN

Halt! Reisepass bitte, Jah! Your passport, please! Ach so! Ines Project, very interesting! This album is the fourth from German female keyboardist Ines Fuchs and like the preceding recordings, it just doesn't bowl you over upon first casual spin through. Its not exactly propulsive prog, whether symphonic, neo or eclectic and it certainly fails to qualify as pop or alternative. Truth is that the chosen path here is more akin to well crafted modern music in the Roxy Music, Simple Minds and Tony Banks vein. Yet, the menu consists of 14 little pieces, some of them gems, possessing this rather innocuous charm of being not immediately brilliant. Case in point the opener "Making Movies in Holywood", a Celtic flute beckons towards a heady mellotron wash, in turn introducing a muscular beat and a woefully ardent vocal from guest lung Boris Huzak. The refrain is stunning and remorseless; a balanced mid-section refuels the main theme. Excellent beginnings, to say the least, delivering good music with little bombast or arrogance. "Sitting by the River" is led by former Asgard vocalist Chicco Grosso, with simple yet somber keyboard evocations from the blond bombshell , firm drumming from Marco Micchieletto and seductive guitar from his brother Massimo ( both ex-Asgard). "In My Street" clocks in at 7 minutes+, the longest track here without a doubt, a gentle lament that keeps the melancholia simple, the repeated lyric "playing Beatles songs all day" catching one's attention antennae. The instrumental break is remarkably deft and melodic with a sweeping Banks-like synthesizer solo that shines brightly. The symphonic impetus adds even more bravado to the return chorus, very nicely done. "The Spark' is another killer track that grabs immediately with its somewhat Turkish lilt sitar intro, one can imagine the belly dancing, a whopping melody that sticks hard and a passionate Christoph Peigan vocal that is brimming with sheer unrelenting beauty. An obvious lift from Roxy's "Out of the Blue" colors the Ines synthesizer solo very nicely. Why didn't I hear this earlier? The title track" Slipping into the Unknown" Part 1 interlude continues the mid-eastern theme, with pipes, violin and hurdy-gurdy all conspiring grandly. "Who holds the Strings" is a more straightforward pop song that has a strong bluesy vocal from Grosso , an unrelenting driving beat and alternating soft/wild passages. "Dark Room Prelude" is a brief orchestral piece that gently evokes Celtic serenity and lays the table for the next song "Dark Room", a rambling ditty that is a tad austere, perhaps on purpose, with a long Grosso plaint and some deliberate drumming. The title track Part 2 lingers only long enough to spread some good musical vibes and usher in "Something is Waiting Here" , an ultra modern 4 and a half minute piece with hard and oblique drum fills, distorted or slide guitar wails , muffled vocal turning into clearer voiced realms, tense and dramatic , extraordinarily interesting and creative. "Enemy Mine" is initiated by some nice e- piano musings, Chicco singing gently a repetitive lament that offers up a lovely guitar solo full of restraint, followed by another Ines Fuchs synth solo. "I'm in a Movie" continues the modern drum beat infested groove with a rather more straightforward delivery that is a bit lyrically wobbly ("Or I was seduced into playing in a movie mature and groovy") and gratingly insistent. Kein Spass! "Ray, the Tambourine" is a better tune that fails to excite beyond its immediacy sounding like an outtake from Genesis' Calling All Stations. "How I Wish that you Would Stay" had Ines herself on the lead mike and she does a more than commendable job on a whizzing electronic background with bopping bass, electronic percussion. While not a masterpiece by any stretch, Ines has enough here to justify her good reputation and deserving of at least 3.5 fuchsy stars