TIME AND SPACE

Lobate Scarp is a North American band formed in 2006 by Adam Sears (vocals and keyboards). During the time of recording Time And Space (2012), the band's debut album, they also had Andy Catt (bass), Dustin Prince (drums), Adrienne Woods (cello), Hoyt Binder (guitars) and Nate 'The Fish' Olmos (guitars and vocals).

Time And Space (2012) took 5 years and over 50 musicians to be completed. The album also includes a 30+ person classical choir and a guest percussionist Alex Acuña (Weather Report). The album was produced by Steven Leavitt and mixed and mastered by Rich Mouser (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Neal Morse).

It's impressive that a debut album comes with such a nice digipack. The CD comes in a hard-cover bound booklet with 20 full color pages, with original art by world David A. Hardy (Hawkwind). Every band that releases their albums in digipacks should learn with Lobate Scarp how you do it right! (pictures on their Bandcamp page lobatescarp.bandcamp.com/album/time-and- space).

Lobate Scarp is an intriguing, refreshing and inspiring mix of Prog Rock with singable melodies. The first track 'Time And Space' begins and the game is over. The band gets you on the very beginning with the Adrienne Woods cello, and pulsing rhythm of Dustin Prince and the great synths by Adam Sears. One more thing, Adam can sing! That's a big difference to a band. The mix of Orchestral feeling and Prog Rock is very present in 'Jacob's Ladder'. And in 'Beginning Of Us' we have a pop melody that would fit in any radio station.

'The Contradiction' is a big mix of orchestra/synthesizers and great riffs! But I have to admit that the drum beat is exactly the same as 'Youth Of The Nation' by P.O.D. and the song itself is the weakest on the album. 'Save My Soul' is the heaviest song of Time And Space (2012) and, at the same time, it is a punch in the face and a mini heavy journey! 'Moment' is the most orchestral while 'The Mirror' is the epic one with David Gilmour's guitar moments and a big choir.

Lobate Scarp is a band that can go far, Time And Space (2012) is probably the most strong debut album that I've heard in the last years. It's the power of the New Prog Generation showing that we can overcome the old ghosts with style and serenity.

I was drawn to this album due to its incredible cover art; a spacey scene beautifully realised in its packaging. I had no idea what the band would sound like but was delighted that they more than met my expectations. It is a debut release for Lobate Scarp and certainly a solid debut by any standards.

It opens with 'Time and Space', a delirious prog fest with impressive Cello played with finesse by Adrienne Woods. It begins calmly and then explodes into an amazing rhythm with some scintillating guitar by Nate Olmos, and he is well accompanied by the rhythm machine of bassist Andy Catt, and Drummer Dustin Prince. Adam Sears' vocals are crystalline and easy on the ears as you can pick up every lyric to immerse yourself into the space opera concept. Sears also handles the keyboards deftly throughout. Hoyt Binder also helps with guitars and Alex Acuna from Weather Report is on percussion. The opening track is a 15 minute progger's dream with enough twists and turns to appease any proghead. It certainly fulfills its quest to encounter space and time and does so with such a refreshing approach. The Cello in particular takes the sound to another level and it has measures of intensity and release, shades of dark and light, offering so much for the listener and at times takes your breath away with its stunning musicianship.

After this dynamic start the album moves into a more calming atmosphere with 'Jacob's Ladder' and then it takes off again with 'Beginning of Us'. The lead break in this track is awesome, with soaring sustain and glorious harmonics, and the keyboards shine beautifully. 'The Contradiction' has a jaunty rhythm with a heavier feel, lots of distortion and an infectious chorus. Sears vocals are more forced and he exudes a great deal of passion in his performance. Mid-way through there is a piano interlude and relaxing melancholy atmosphere, especially as the cello slices some gorgeous motifs. The music is mesmerising and dreamy here and gets even quieter as the violin solos out.

'Save My Soul' is 8:44 in length, opening with a heavy distorted riff, a cool lick by any standards that chops and starts in a prog time sig. The track then locks into a blazing inferno of metal guitars and synth. A bassline takes over then as the vocals begin; "I don't understand myself so how the hell can you." The track has a heavy rock vibe and even a retro feel in places. The pace settles down into a subdued jazzy interlude with soft synths, and piano; a gorgeous sound that really appealed to me after the heavy rock. The contrast is striking and innovative; this is the band at their most inventive and it is delightful prog. It returns to the heavy metal riff to end with the dynamic chorus and ending with the obligatory gong; a fabulous track! Then there is a false ending as the song shifts gears into jazz rock fusion territory with the trumpet sounding as a metal guitar riff crunches. The dissonance is wonderful; a trumpet competing madly with a fret melting guitar till it abruptly halts. This caps off an instant prog classic.

'Moment' moves completely to a relaxing feel, a sporadic drum pounds as soft keys chime and Sears gently sings. We can hear Woods beautiful Cello creating tranquil waterfalls cascading down. Then an electric lead guitar comes crashing through the ambience. The rhythm picks up, and there are swathes of synths generating a wall of sound. Sears sings; "If I could take this moment I'd be with you forever, If I could take this moment I'd do it all again". Then there is a haunting buzzing synth and some angelic violin; some of the most ethereal music on the album.

'The Mirror' is the grand finale and features a 30 piece choir resonating powerfully as a lead guitar delay sound reverberates a gorgeous melody. The Pink Floyd influence is unmistakable. Sears sings over the mournful Cello; "then I know it's true 'cos I've seen it in you, you've become the mirror now." On that note the music strikes into a harder rock rhythm. The choir sing in Latin and create a real grandiose and bombastic vibe, akin to the classic 70s prog era. It is the perfect way to close the album, another highlight even at the end. The album never wears out its welcome either as the songs close off at the right time. The album length is close to an hour so is very easy to sit through on one listen.

"Time and Space" is a great debut album, one of the best debuts I have heard, and exudes a huge amount of passion and depth. The musicianship is wonderful, played with virtuoso precision. The tracks are all unique and stand alone. There is not a dull moment or any filler material; it is all killer and a genuine delight to listen to from start to end. There are some moments that are absolutely brilliant especially in the opening title track, 'Save My Soul' and 'The Mirror'. This album comes highly recommended, delivering a unique experience of space rock opera.

The contradiction will bring us together ....

oh dear ... maybe this album comprises a little course in dialectics? So what ... at least it has offered more than one contradiction to me in the early beginning, when I came in contact - it must have been Summer 2013 eventually. Firstly, album title and artwork obviously point to kinda space rock opera, but musically this is - very simple to recognize after a while - far away from any space rock stuff, basta!. And furthermore, as I'm listening to a lot of new albums - which forces to cull with intense - in most cases after the first listening session I'm sure to know when having something to stick at. Not in this case - while blatantly melodic and catchy, like 'Space And Time' appears, I was inclined to sort this out to the prog related table at first.

Luckily enough though, just Save My Soul saved my soul in this case, a song that fortunately attracted my attention and soon went over to my phone player, amongst other things due to a fantastic fusion intermezzo. And then after a while this convinced me to take it with more mindfulness .. and to load the other tracks too. So in the end I've been listening to 'Space And Time' on my trip to work (back and forth) at least twice a week - while learning to love it furthermore. As noted before - instead of space rock - here we go with symphonic, neo and heavy prog oriented tunes. The title song comes underlayed with remarkable percussion equipment, I bet Alex Acuña is involved here. Two words - clever song-writing.

Adrienne Woods' mournful chamber cello opens this affair, probably causing mixed feelings - but hey, they soon switch over to a good-mooded behaviour, which luckily will stay over the rest of the course. By the way, a real attraction is Adam Sears' versatile keyboard input, certainly approved on the following short but definitely tricky Jacob's Ladder featuring funfair organ, soaring and bubbling synths, symphonic strings aso. - bravo! Beginning Of Us drifts into pop rock fields then ... but they don't keep in that way while weaving a very nice guitar dominated intermezzo in.

The Contradiction at first rocks the house with slightly bizzare overburdened vocals, but again there is a change to state after a while into a lovely flow including piano, electric guitar, cello and violin. The heart-warming The Moment seems to be placed as a ballad and The Mirror sums all the band qualities up then and evolves to a real progressive rock parfource run. Man! Something forgotten to mention? - oh, yes, Adam Sears seems to be the head of this combo and kudos are adressed to his strong song-writing abilities ... and he provides an excellent singing voice on top of it.

The LOBATE SCARP crew offers an unpredictable blend of neo/symphonic, fusion, heavy and popular rock music, partially comparable to bands like Jadis or Bolus, which are coming into my mind. There's a lot to sing-along after a while. The compositions are top-notch all the way through, full of melodic moments, that's it what really strikes me. While most frequently used in recent months 'Time And Space' is a matter very close to my heart, an extraordinary appearance - I still can't find anything to grouse about - which finally deserves the highest rating which is possible.

... and will tear us apart ... (No way! Not in this case!)

This album was released all the way back in 2012, but I have only just come across it after I reviewed last year's 'Spiral and Portals' EP. At the time, the line-up was Adam Sears (lead vocals, keyboards, piano), Hoyt Binder (lead guitar), Nate Olmos (guitar, vocals), Adrienne Woods (cello, vocals), Andy Catt (bass, upright bass, guitar, vocals) and Dustin Prince (drums) plus on this album there is also a full choir as well as percussionist Alex Acu'a who will probably always be best known for Weather Report but has appeared on countless other albums as well. The album was produced by Steven Leavitt and mixed and mastered by none other than Rich Mouser (Spock's Beard, Transatlantic, Neal Morse), who is still involved with the band today.

There is no way this sounds like a debut album, and one can understand why it apparently took more than five years to record. It is wonderfully layered, with percussion and drums having an incredibly important part to play, the bass providing the bottom end, cello providing both depth and lightness, guitars to the fore, plenty of keyboards and then Adam at the front singing his heart out. The band are happy to switch between different lead elements and moving into long instrumental passages is not a problem for them. I am not surprised Rich Mouser was involved in the band, as the music is quite reminiscent of Spock's Beard at times, and when the choir comes in such as on the title track it really takes it to a new level. That song is more than 15 minutes long, but it seems to fly past with different musicians taking centre stage, solos swapped between the band (take a bow Andy Catt whose bass playing is simply incredible).

There is so much going on, but the album never feels cluttered, rather that every single note from every instrument is needed at that exact moment. They can turn on a dime, changing direction and even end songs unexpectedly so that the listener stares at the player. Against that, the songs are all very easy to get inside and enjoy the first time of playing, and like Morse, Sears has an innate understanding of what makes a great song with wonderful arrangements. It is strange to think this is the only album to date, but Adam tells me the band are currently working on a new one, although they are finding it difficult in isolation. This may have passed me by when it first came out eight years ago, so if you are in the same position this is something you need to check out right now.