BLUE LAMBENCY DOWNWARD

I love the album "Choirs of the Eye" and when I saw this album in the store on maroon vinyl, I just had to buy it because I knew I would never see it on vinyl again. It was worth the price I paid for it. The artwork is beautiful and the lyrics are printed in the gatefold so that you can sing along. Well, I don't know if you'll be able to sing along because one this this is not is karaoke music. It is the exact opposite in fact. That in and of itself makes this an awesome record. It is so anti establishment that there is no category for it except avant-garde. I will tell you one thing, you probably won't get this music on the first listen, or even on the 10th listen. If that is the case then you need to stop playing it as background music, because it is not that. Even then there will be a lot of people out there that just won't "get" this. So be warned, it is NOT ordinary in any way. It is very original and there is so much going on. You will have a hard time picking out the subtleties in this though because there is no melody, there are no repetition in this at all. But each track has it's own distinct personality. So, if you first understand what avant-garde music is, then you will begin to have an idea what the overall album is about. Add some modern jazz overtones to the mix and you will hone in a little better on what to expect. Now, those of you that are familiar with Kayo Dot and Toby Driver know what "Choirs of the Eye" sounds like. If you want an album to sound like that, this one is not it. The danger of making music that breaks all the rules is that you end up having a bunch of music that sounds like aimless wandering, like endless noodling. That is what is amazing here. With all the anti-ordinary going on here, the music still has direction. Sure, there are places throughout that sound like everything is idling in neutral, but that only makes the passages with drive in them even more convincing. Anyway, instead of me rambling on about this, the only way you will know for yourself if you can handle this music is to try it out. If you are a prog lover, you must listen to this. Don't be too quick to judge it either. As other reviewers have said, this is a hard one to digest, but I say that once you get your head around it, it is quite a feast!