THE AGE OF MISINFORMATION

Lies and Damn Lies

Here's the fourth full album from Texan crossover progressive rock (currently) quartet THE AARON CLIFT EXPERIMENT, a mature, intelligent release showing a wide scope, yet with clear focus.

It seemed to me that Aaron, the founder and creative spark in this outfit, has here surrounded himself with an exceptionally gifted core of musicians, and then reached out to a gaggle of stringed and brass musicians to add further dimensions to his writing.

The Zeitgeist- Deliberate Deception

For me, the focus of the album- whether addressing the social dimensions, like in the title track, or the intensely personal parameters drawn in the closing "Weight of the World"- lies in the enormous and burdensome costs of trying to sort through layers and strata of vile, vicious, and destructive untruths, lies, deceptions- misinformation.

The instrumentation and the music then are used to paint pictures- vivid, varied, and vibrant, with lyrics that suggest, snarl, plead, and long for truth.

Mature Compositions

I earlier used this descriptor, since throughout, Aaron and company use vocal harmonies and melodies, give-and-take like on "L.I.A.R", instrumentation that shows willingness to work together- whether the (perhaps mixed too far back) excellent rhythm section of Cliff Warren's wandering and precise bass lines along with Pablo Ranlett-López's crisp and colorful drumming and percussion- note the fretless bass lines and (perhaps too) extended drum work on "Bet on Zero"- one of the album's highlights for me.

Guitar work by Anthony Basini was also excellent, and sometimes more restrained than I'd have liked. He used some gutsy rhythm guitar chords and often fairly laid-back, liquid lead guitar tones, with some intricate, delicate riffing and some nice give-and-take with Aaron's synth on "Rise".

Aaron's keyboards too were outstanding, and more restrained than I wanted at times. When he lets loose, like on the chiming Hammond sounds on "Rise", it really shines. I thought he tended to use keyboards for color and texture and depth for the most part. And I loved the choral textures on "The Color of Flight".

Wide Scope

Here I was drawn to the heavy and dark tones of "Dark Secrets", or the vibrant heavy-progressive sounds of the title track, or the wistful, meditative "The Color of Flight", or the almost Latin feel of that same track, with acoustic instrumentation that for me suggested a promising direction for this outfit to further explore in future recordings.

Lyrically

Lyrics too dealt with misinformation in wide scope. Having worked in the addictions field, for instance, I found "Bet on Zero" to be a thoughtful and imaginative approach to gambling obsessions. "Málaga" drew internal pictures for me of a sparkling modern city- with centuries upon centuries of history, and asking a question I thought was present throughout this album, "What is truth?" Is it the surface of things? What lies beneath? How does one decide?

Some Closing Thoughts

THE AARON CLIFT EXPERIMENT has presented an "excellent addition to any progressive rock music collection", showing musical and lyrical depth and maturity, capturing the zeitgeist- at least in my opinion- and the costs we pay socially and individually.

I'd like to see this band push itself into more developed and elaborated pieces, and to let loose some of the restraint I sensed here. I like Aaron's voice and it's adequate for the tasks- but I think a dedicated high-quality vocalist could add a much needed sense of drama and power to these fine compositions.

My Rating- 4 sparkling stars

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