WALKING ON A FLASHLIGHT BEAM

I have a long love story with Lunatic Soul. Being a huge fan of Riverside, i can easily say i love LS even more - for it being the most tender, touching, honest and personal recordings of Mariusz that i've ever heard. I've been following LS story for five years now and i still can't decide what is my favorite album, this seems to be impossible as all of them are so beautifully composed and made with such enormous love.

However, Walking On A Flashlight Beam differs from what Mariusz done in Lunatic Soul before. This album is heavier, darker and if his previous works made you feel like they were written some time in the middle of the night by a man saddened by his life and fighting with insomnia (although that wasn't the case, i still feel this is a very "night" music), this one is clearly a work of a man determined to record an awesome album, and not just writing music because his soul calls for it and then suddenly discovering he has a full album on his hands. LS1, LS2 and Impressions felt like a stream of musical consciousness, beautifully natural and spontaneous, but this is a work of aspiring mature professional that does not linger waiting for the inspiration, but does something that he is best at. And the result is mindblowing.

You can as well tell that this album is somehow autobiographical. It is built around a concept of loners, "hikikomori" - people that prefer solitude to the noisy companies, people whose life is filled with books and stories, films, favorite music and videogames. For those who feel much better being left alone and are perfectly fine entertaining themselves. The album, however, is very sad. It does not make an impression of an album written by someone perfectly happy with his life - more like being a treatment for an aching soul. It will keep you a great company this autumn and winter.

In terms of composing this work is also more sophisticated than the previous ones that were so beautifully minimalistic in their acoustic sound. You can hear proggish drums and electric guitar plus some synths that make LS sound shift to progressive rock direction even more. Beautiful harmonic changes and amazing instrumental parts. Amazing vocals harmonizing, that you can not that often hear in Riverside but that is present in LS1-2 and make you fall in love with his voice even more.

The only thing that makes me a bit sad about LS in that this project is fully made for the studio and won't be performed live any time soon (or ever?). I hope that this will change over time as this will be a very powerful experience for everyone.

All in all, i've been waiting for this album for a year (we opened for Riverside in Oclober'13 and Mariusz told me he was about to start working on the new LS) and i do not regret a bit. It all was so worth waiting.

Favorite song: Treehouse, Walking on a flashlight beam, Gutter