SYNAESTHESIA

Synaesthesia are a young, fresh-faced UK prog band who have had the good fortune to become protegees of IQ's Mike Holmes, who after they signed to IQ's Giant Electric Pea record label would not only take on the production duties on this debut album, but would also provide a guest spot at one point on guitar. Try and spot him if you can, though, because group guitarists Sam Higgins and Ollie Hannifan offer a capable two-lead attack which provides a suitable backdrop for Adam Warne's keyboard work. It's not a perfect album - in particular, I find Warne's vocals to be rather bland and generic, and wonder whether the band wouldn't be better served by going instrumental - but it's an fairly solid debut which makes me hope for great things in the future from this group.