SAYER

2019 has been a busy year for the artist with the release of 2 full length albums and a 3rd release consisting of past unreleased works. Most of his later albums have been available on CD or as Bandcamp downloads. "Future City" was released in November of 2019 and it consists of 10 tracks that constitutes a total of over 75 minutes in music. The album is based around a story with each instrumental track illustrating the various scenes. The story is told in the CD insert and is also available on the Bandcamp page where you can stream and download the album. The list of synthesizers that he uses for this album are also listed there, and there is quite a large list which provides a nice variety of sound and texture for the various tracks on the album.

The music on the album is a well-produced series of tracks that are quite melodious and accented by the programmed percussion. Some are nice and upbeat like "Arrival", while others are dreamy and flowing as on "Dawn Awakens", but each track reflects use of the old-school electronic sounds but done in a way that it sounds current. "Drone-craft" has a more atmospheric sound accented with windy effects, but this develops into a nice airy track that picks up a rhythm later on and creates a nice melodic pattern while other effects swirl around it all.

The tracks are all well-developed, and at times seem to continue on a bit too long, but overall, the music is quite accessible and each track follows a pattern of exploration and setup of the track in the beginning, and this is where most of the experimenting and exploration happens. This moves into where the melodic and rhythmic section begins and carries the track through the main part of the song, and then it ends by a deconstruction of the melody and breaking down the structure to the end. It becomes fairly predictable after the first few tracks, but the experience as a whole is enjoyable and pleasant, even on the first listen. No real new ground is broken here and not much is really unique or original, its just enjoyable electronic music.

A 13 compositions release that moves along the LA electronic school and the Berlin one with sparkles of Vangelis' epic/friendly/atonal riffs and Jarre's extremely friendly post OXYGEN sequencer melodies.

Well played, kind of a "let's be happy" mood, which strikes too close, more than once, to overly pretty 80's "Mainstream New Age" environments.

The good thing going for this release is that in this PA's world, repetition seems, almost always, more valuable than invention. But in mine, repetition is, almost always, boring.

A nice effort that plays along "tribute like" lines. Best attribute> The tracks in which he blends all influences into one, i.e. "Electrosynthesis" & "Subsequence".

***3 PA stars.