JOHANNES LULEY

This one is tough to give a rating to because it sounds SO MUCH like a few other albums/artists (JON ANDERSON's Olias of Sunhillow, ENYA, MIKE OLDFIELD, and YES/STEVE HOWE) and yet it has such great sound, compositional facility and production.

Favorite songs: I like the acoustic guitar work on 7. "The Fleeting World" (8/10) and the first and last thirds of 3. "Guardians of Time" (8/10); 6. the ADIEMUS-like multiple drum rhythms and the deep bass chord pulse on "Give and Take (Part 2)" (8/10); and the lead guitar on the album's best song, 10. "Voya" (9/10), sounds EXACTLY like mid-70s Steve Howe, start to finish, note for note, sound/style for sound/style!

This is a solid four star album, maybe even higher, despite the familiarity. It's because, IMO, Luley has taken the sounds, styles and feeling of the above-mentioned artists, merged them, and produced music that is BETTER than the original artists. Though I love and miss MOTH VELLUM, it is nice to hear music still coming from at least one of its members. Also: Cool artwork on the album cover.

On Tales From Sheepfather's Grove, Johannes Luley offers up a range of melodic light-prog numbers spiced up a little here and there by moments reminiscent of the folkier turns of Mike Oldfield. It's a slickly produced and enjoyable album, though at points it meanders and loses my attention, so the compositions could probably do with tightening up a bit. Still, if you are fond of Luley's work in Moth Vellum then you could do a lot worse than giving this a try, and the mildly New Agey vibe that worms its way into some of the more minimalistic moments on the album is admittedly interesting.

In December I heard from Moth Vellum founder and guitarist Johannes Luley who asked if I would be interested in hearing his new solo album. A short while later and I was staring at the incredible artwork from Harout Demirchyan and I felt that I had been transported back to the Seventies ' but would the music pass the test? Well, I had nothing to worry about on that score. Johannes provides all of the instruments himself (apart from a concert harp played by Stephanie Bennett) and uses three singers, Robin Hathaway, Kristina Sattler and Sianna Lyons, and the result is nothing short of stunning.

It is as if Jon Anderson has again joined with Vangelis, but without the wall of keyboards, and instead it feels much more 'real' and containing lots of space and depth. In many ways it is extremely complex, yet comes across in a simple manner. It is not music that can be played in the background as it may just disappear, but greatly rewards those who have the time to spare just to listen to the music as an end in itself. Electric guitar is used for emphasis as opposed to always being a central pillar, with plenty of room for mandolin and acoustic instruments. Instead of programmed drums or even a normal drumkit, Johannes has instead opted for handheld percussion which gives a very different feel to the norm and this builds to a climax in 'Give and Take'.

This is one of the most beautiful prog albums I have ever had the pleasure to listen to, and I am sure that when 2013 comes to a close that this will be on many people's Top 10's. I know it will be on mine.

Johannes Luley was the guitarist of Moth Vellum. This is a nice album, big surprise for me! Much of the album is lush and pastoral in nature. Luley plays on all instruments, except the harp. Lead vocal handled by Luley, saved for some female backing vocals. The first one, two part track "The Stab the Sea" strongly influenced by Jon Anderson' s album,Olias of Sunhillow, because we can hear multple vocal parts, harps and tribal drums. "The Guardians of Time" is a classical guitar dominated song with touches of folk. The next one is a folksy number also with much acoustic guitar in vein of Anthony Phillips with helped by synthesizer. "Give and take part one": nice vocal with harp, Vangelis type carpet of keyboards and oldfield-ish guitar playing. "Give and Take part two" is a short number with tribal drums and some keys. "The Fleeting world" is beautiful acoustic guitar based composition, as if we would hear Steve Howe. "The We are the one": sounds like a good outtake from a Jon & Vangelis album! The beginning of the ten minutes, four parts suite, "Atheos" is classical oriented and soundtrack like. Middle of the suite we can oldfield-ish guitar playing and delicious vocal parts with feeling of a small dose of world music. Sound of synths float with a womans'wishper in end of this long number. The closing "Voya" is a relaxing love song. I offer this album to those who like the acoustic guitar based progressive rock music what bordered with New Age.