THE 3RD PLANETARY CHRONICLES

The 3rd Planetary Chronicles is the third album by Japanese prog band Yuka & Chronoship, featuring keyboardist Yuka Funakoshi as the principal composer and supported by three excellent musicians on drums, bass, and guitar. The album's theme is the development of technology with specific technological advances featured, namely the Stone Age, steam power, flight, radio, and cloning as well as a reference to the concept of a solar-centric solar system and a reference to physics. Like the "Promenade" sequences in Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition", there are short transitional tracks which make up a series entitled "Birth of the Earth". This series concludes with a fully developed track over eight minutes long.

The music is largely lead by Yuka's piano, synthesizer and organ work but plenty of spotlight time goes to guitarist Takashi Miyazawa. The music is for the most part gentle, atmospheric, dynamic, and powerful. There are plenty of swooshing keyboard sounds at the right times, aethereal chorus vocals in parts, and the odd recorded spoken dialogue. Only a couple of tracks have lyrics and they are brief.

The music is very close to western prog bands both past and present but with a touch of that Japanese sense of human spirit. It sounds positive overall despite some of the darker moments. It never gets weird and works well as a companion piece to western prog while still keeping a sense of Japaneseness.

Personally, I find the longer tracks more engaging. The album begins like a misty landscape: you can't see (hear) the full beauty of it yet. For me, the album continues to develop interest as it goes along, and "I Am Thee (Awakening of Cloneroid)", the second last track, quickly became a favourite track out of many great tracks.

I will definitely be checking out their second album in the near future.