DEEP SPACE EIGHT

I don't know what happened between 2016's 'Perpetual' and 2019's Deep Space Eight', but there has been a major change in the band as singer Sabina Godula-Zając is no longer involved (although she did write the lyrics to all the songs), and she has been replaced by Magda Grodecka. Magda has a quite different approach, as well as a lighter and higher vocal style. This means she is quite happy to throw her voice up and for the music underneath to be almost pedestrian at times. While she is a superb singer, I did find myself wondering what the band are trying to achieve here as overall this is more basic than I have come to expect from the band, and given this is their fifth album they should be moving forward as opposed to working out what it is they need to do.

As always, the piano of Krzysztof Lepiarczyk has a major part to play, but I found myself wishing that guitarist Piotr Grodecki was allowed to stretch his wings as opposed to having them clipped. This album finds the band moving more to AOR-inspired melodic rock with the occasional nod towards progressive rock as opposed to being firmly within the genre and looking out, and the album suffers because of it. Although the vocals are riveting, and I really enjoyed hearing them (and I know we will hear a lot more from Magda in the future in one form or another), there are times during the album when I was simply bored.

Loonypark need to have a serious think about where they go from here, as while I thought 'Unbroken Spirit' was a great album, 'Perpetual' wasn't quite as good, and 'Deep Space Eight' isn't quite as good as that, so they need to do something significant. Will they?

LOONYPARK is a Polish group working since 2007 in the progressive space with a crossover trend. This is their 5th album with magda GRODECKA again on vocals, Piotr GRODECKI on guitar, Piotr LIPKA on bass, Grzegorz FIEBER on drums and Krzysztof LEPIARCZYK on synths. Many come from the group METEOPATA, if not from PADRE, they are experienced session musicians; The style of music is polished, soft, the chords well worked for a prog-AOR contracted rendering; a little sound SIMPLE MINDS is present for songs of about 5 minutes. "We Don't Wanna Die" begins the album with a clear tune with piano and rhythm in place to make room for Magda's mesmerizing voice, having fun melting us up to a distant and airy solo and then a reprise of the hypnotic chorus. "The Space Between" and an intro to the majestic piano, the voice that will flirt with that of Celine Dion for a romantic ballad, a tune that JOURNEY or NAZARETH could have played. "Timelines" starts on a more pop-rock chord with dark intro, then arrives a basic rhythm and an aerial, divine station wagon, at the western edge in the middle; it's beautiful, you feel the mastery, it's almost too standardized, too predictable, you're smug. "Believe" follows with a similar piece very well brought, the drums forward to let the voice do its taf, yes Magda sings really well, it's warm, melodious, very well mastered, but it lacks the little "I do not know what" to be more intense , to literally explode; it seems that the musicians are holding back somewhere while there is space to release a more energetic progressive break. "Little Girl" sounds even more about the symphonic new-wave that SIMPLE MINDS distilled in its time: drums, voice, ballad again, quiet space, clean with here a more bluesy guitar and synth-piano more sustained. The titles follow one after the other and we do not see the minutes pass, my ear will look for the voice of Kim Wilde, Linda Ronstadt. "Are We Alone?" is a more energetic track with momenty atmosphere at the ERA, and a guitar that lets go a little more, notes that leave faster, a chorus that makes you want to dance on it, end with military drums that fights with bass and guitar. "Afraid of Tomorrow" goes back on a ballad at the edge of the lament with an airy sound bringing a more laid-back air, it's even hovering with the synth, it becomes interesting with a guitar finally a little more angry. "Odyssey" for the last track, 7 minutes that sums up the album: air well soaked but with a feeling of repetition that tarnishes a little the sensation of the first tracks; even the end struggles to take off, too bad. LOONYPARK has released a beautiful melodic rock-pop album almost too beautiful lacking real more rhythmic breaks; the album goes well, for sure but it lacks the "pep" (in French in the text) to make the titles take off, to give them more tone, more energy; and in view of the various non-refrainal developments, one senses that this is quite achievable; this album is good but too overpriced somewhere to really take off or explode, it's a bit of a shame in this era of creative fusion.