ALTERED STATES

In 2022 Miller returned with his seventeenth studio album, again sticking with his tried and trusted line-up of Sarah Young (flute), Mateusz Swoboda (cello), Barry Haggarty (guitar), Kane Miller (guitar, violin) and Will (drums & percussion) although second flautist Jaye Marsh is no longer involved and has instead been replaced by Giulia Cacciavillian. While I am not sure I would call this a concept album, I would certainly say that many of the songs sit on a theme and if the cover art had shown a wolf instead of a lizard and a frog I would not have been surprised, given we have "New Moon Prelude", "Wolf Moon", "Half Moon" and "Full Moon Rising".

Musically we have moved more into the areas of Steve Hackett, and it would not take much for one to believe that "The Trap" is a long lost track which was recorded for 'Acolyte', but there are still plenty of influences from classic Barclay James Harvest, Alan Parsons Project and Pink Floyd. I also find it interesting that there are songs here which one would imagine with a different arrangement could well be considered folk rock, such is their style. The layered vocals, the non-rushed guitars, have a very different approach to so many others which are out there, and the result is an album which gently moves from symphonic to folk all the time staying very progr4essive but also bringing it plenty of atmosphere and ambient trends. It is very much an album for the listener to fall inside, to be removed from the daily stresses and strains and instead be taken away to somewhere very different indeed.

The way to get the most out of this album is by playing it on headphones when there is no possibility of being disturbed, where one can allow the music to take control and for the listener to be swept away on the wings of their own imagination. Yet another simply wonderful album from Rick, a worthy addition to his canon

Rick Miller is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist who has been active since the mid-80s and has mostly been associated with the genre of progressive rock, wherein he incorporates some elements of new age music and the like, always displaying a strong affinity towards the tonality and expression dear to artists like Pink Floyd, Steve Hackett, or even Alan Parsons, giving his music this celebratory yet somewhat derivative edge. All of this, I believe, is fairly well portrayed by his 2023 release titled 'Altered State', a pretty calm and gently monotonous collection of songs that evoke a strong inspiration from the music of the artists previously mentioned.

As Miller drifts between dreamy and cinematic guitar passages, always cinematic and tranquil, through more electronic or folky elements that give another dimension to the album overall, the music always remains a little unimaginative, especially given the strong resemblance to an Alan Parsons project, as if his musical DNA has been injected into the sound of 'Altered State'. Nevertheless, some of the guitar highlights on here are tasty and rewarding, the tone of most of these songs is enjoyable, and the bluesy edge present here and there is absolutely fine. The vocals hardly stand out as excellent (something this album has in common with many Steve Hackett albums, for example) and the music does not really present anything groundbreaking, nor too exceptional and unheard of in the realm of progressive rock, making this album slightly derivative and forgettable, but fine enough for what it is.